From birth to rebirth: the incomplete story of Androids 17 and 18
by SuperSimpleStuff
Summary: In a hospital near Central City, twins Lapis and Lazuli were born to a loving, dedicated mother. Brother and sister live a turbulent life before being kidnapped by the evil doctor Gero and restructured into cyborgs. But what if #17 and #18 never truly forgot the ones they left behind and were able to reunite with them? 18xKrillin/ 17xOC
1. Lapis and Lazuli

1\. Lapis and Lazuli

Young Kate stared at an indefinite spot on the floor where she lay on all fours, pushing and screaming, her large forehead soaked in sweat.

Time never passed in that hospital room. She must have been in there for days, even if she knew it was only forty-two hours. She felt embarrassed, knowing that probably they could hear her scream and curse all the way to Central City.

She couldn't help it.

-Keep it up!-

She felt _baby A_ moving, making its way into the birth canal. She hoped for everything to go smoothly and end quickly; she felt like a scared little girl even if by now, twenty-five years old and with her twins coming, she was no longer a child.

She knew that she was dealing with a difficult birth: the doctors commented on _baby A _being stuck and consequently on _baby B_ starting to suffer, trapped in the womb of its mother.

Kate grit her teeth as a doctor helped _baby A_ to leave her body; she pushed as hard as she could, the mass of dark hair clinging fastidiously to her back.

Numbed by a nearly unbearable pain, Kate heard the doctors talk to one-another. She murmured a prayer, narrowing her eyes.

And finally the massive orb of her belly seemed to stop touching the floor; suddenly she felt lighter. Tears of joy veiled her eyes as soon as she heard her baby cry.

-Good job, mama. It's a girl.-

_-__My darling__\- _tears ran down Kate's cheeks as she stretched out her arms to welcome that precious little thing. She kissed the wisp of bloody white hair.

And then, spasms shook Kate's body as more strong contractions knocked the wind out of her; she was not finished.

Still holding her newborn baby girl she wondered if the youngest twin was still all right.

Minutes, hours, days passed.

The new mother felt in agony: she couldn't lose one of the twins, she would have never forgiven herself. Overwhelmed with pain, she could not think of anything else.

Finally the doctors smiled again and Kate felt finally safe, moved when she heard another loud, high-pitched cry.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

Kate repeated her gestures, cooing as she soothed the shaking, youngest newborn, hearing his baby squeaks.

-All right, both are fine: congratulations!- the doctor winked – a boy and a girl, lively and beautiful.-

_-Loves of my life.-_ Kate wept, holding the babies close to her chest.

/

Life as a single mother to a feisty duo was no cakewalk.

Lapis and Lazuli were perfectly synchronised: when one cried the other did too, if one wanted to play or sleep after lunch, so did the other.

They protested if Kate tried to separate them, they had even started talking together.

That time Lazuli had waved her chubby little hand while Kate was bathing her: -Hi mama!-

And Lapis, sitting nearby, focused on his toy cars, had raised his arm: -Hi mama.-

-Well hello to you, my darlings!-

Beforehand they had never spoken a word, and they were just a few months away from their second birthday.

Kate was amazed by her children: in only three years of life they had grown very attached to each other, establishing a bond that Kate was grateful for. At least they would always have each other, for support and company.

The young mother was quite familiar with jump scares too; little Lapis ate everything and whilst this was great for Kate, who was frequently frustrated with Lazuli rejecting fiercely every meal she was fed, he also had developed the bad habit of placing different non-edible stuff in his mouth, regardless of his own safety. Usually mother could handle it, but that damned time he was literally choking on a large marble Kate had had to look for help; curled up in Kate's arms, Lazuli had cried loudly when the neighbour gave her brother the Heimlich manoeuvre. It took two days for her to stop crying and hugging him.

_-Kate, it's important that you help your twins develop __their own personality__. Otherwise the __older they get, the less will they be able to do without each-other.-_ friends and acquaintances said.

Mother knew and was convinced that they undoubtedly had their own personality. Certainly she was already a little woman, in love with Kate's clothes and make-up. Not rarely Kate had found her drawers empty, clothes scattered about in the room while Lazuli paraded around, her face smeared with makeup. Lapis looked at her and shook his head.

Kate was happy to see them fall asleep in a hug, a little worried when they infected each other with various childhood diseases. The twins had already started kindergarten and it had taken very little for Lazuli to get sick with chicken pox.

-You shouldn't stay too close to your sister, honey, otherwise you'll get sick too- had said once Kate to the boy.

He had jumped into her arms and locked his teary eyes in hers: -Mama, I feel sad without my sister.-

-You don't have to worry. Lazuli is fine, it's nothing serious. You just have to be careful not to drink from her glass or to exchange cutlery as you usually do.-

But once Lapis had transgressed the rules and found himself happily ill, side by side to his sister in their cot.

-I'm sorry, mama told me not to do it; I just wanted to be with you- he had confessed, looking down.

Lazuli had smiled at him, eyes shining with fever ,and had given him a wet, small kiss:

-You did well, I missed you! But if I hadn't gotten sick you would be fine too! I'm sorry.-

The years passed serenely. Kate was happier and happier with her little children, even though they could be true rascals who wreaked havoc and always teamed up: never once Lapis had backed down when he thought his twin sister needed his help, and it wasn't an issue for Lazuli to bite and scratch other children to defend him.

-You two watch too much TV…-

When one day Kate had entered their room she found herself drenched in water after a bucket stacked at the top of the door had toppled over her.

The children gave each other a high five and laughed out loud.

Woe to anyone who scolded them, it was never their fault.

From early on during their school years, the two siblings had had excellent opportunities to team up. With time their bond had grown even closer, sometimes even in an exaggerated way: Kate had laughed inwardly, lovingly considering them a lost cause when she had taken Lapis for a haircut and Lazuli had insisted to have hers cut too.

-Otherwise Lapis will be sad because he misses his hair- she explained, as if it was something to be taken for granted.

It was when the twins started to get older that Kate's real worries began: they skipped school, played the teachers, always together. She feared that they would soon turn into two angsty teenagers.

Lazuli was the worst: it was always she who sent other kids home arms full of scratches, if they got her mad or annoyed her brother. He was less aggressive, but very protective of his sister.

-Do you know what we have to do?- he said once.

-I'm listening; if it's a good idea I already say yes.-

Lapis chuckled with a wink: -Indeed it is! It's something to keep bonds strong: we just make a cut, a small one, on our hand. I on yours, and you on mine. And then we drink the blood that spills out.-

-How idiotic. What gives? We already have a close bond, we were together even in our mother's belly, what more can you ask for.-

-It doesn't matter. Once upon a time, people in _tribes_ did that.-

Well, Lazuli was no _tribe girl_.

Nobody wanted to give in. They stared in their identical eyes for a while, then she surrendered:

-Okay, okay ... even if I'm the eldest and I should be the one who makes the decisions.-

Lapis wrinkled his nose; she needn't be so bossy, she wasn't _that _older.

She looked haughtily at her little brother: -Only because it's you.-

The twins sealed the further blood pact.

-You know what, Lapis? You are my special one: I'll take care of you, I promise you.-

/

Twelve year-old Lazuli prepared to make her entrance in the shopping centre with the rest of the gang. Mum wasn't that happy that she and Lapis had started hanging out with those people, all older than they. Some were already acquainted with the cops.

-They look like jailbirds! I don't want you two to be hooligans.-

-Oh mum, save it! I would like to know how you'd feel if anything I gave you was constant disapproval.-

Lazuli used to flip her hair and leave Kate alone and bitter. She looked older; her unripe breasts peeked from the tank top that left her stomach and hips uncovered. It felt right to wear those cool-looking boots and short denim skirt. Lazuli felt beautiful and confident.

One of the guys in the merry brigade revealed a plan: -All right, folks, we'll spread out. First, we'll create a diversion: clog all the bathrooms!-

When the work was done, Lazuli holed up with her friend in the shopping centre ladies' room: she placed her great bag next to a sink and smoothed her hair:

-Look what I got you!- she enthusiastically rummaged in her purse and held out to her friend Sara brand new mascara and khol.

-Oh, Lazuli. How did you do that? I didn't even see you.-

The blonde winked mischievously and showed her the contents of the bag: clothes of all kinds, shoes, accessories, snacks, make-up, a padded bra (the first one!).

-You are so sneaky, Lazuli!- Sara whispered, surprise turning her eyes into saucers.

-Well, I'm a professional.- Lazuli snorted, starting to apply a heavy layer of mascara -mum also complains because I wear make-up. She should mind her own fucking business.-

She turned around and saw Sara gawking at her: -And put on that make-up! I stole for you!-

Sara held the mascara, then stared at her friend who was still pulling faces in the mirror: -Lazuli, I don't really like what we are doing. When we were younger it was a game, now we can get in trouble.-

Lazuli froze her with her gaze: -Do as you please, you are free. I will certainly not hold you back since you're boring like my mother; jeez, she doesn't even want me and Lapis to sleep in the same bed! She says that we are no longer children. But I do what_ I _want.-

She responded to _no one_. Was there anyone any lamer than Kate out there? Who would ever call their daughter and son after a mineral?

-Your eyes- Sara murmured -you have very blue eyes, like the lapis lazuli.-

Kate was lame anyway.

-But how nice. You have a good relationship with your brother; I just quarrel with all of mine. By the way, where is he?-

-I dunno- Lazuli sighed with a shrug -maybe stealing some car parts.-

Coming home, Lazuli threw herself into Kate's arms, who held her and kissed her hair:

-Where have you been? I was feeling worried.-

The girl innocently looked up: -I was having a stroll in the shopping centre.-

-Did you buy anything?-

-No. No I did not.-

So, why was her bag full?

-Open it up a little for me, please.-

Lazuli sighed, showing her mother the contents of the bag; Kate didn't speak, letting her icy glare do the job.

-I ... I found them things.-

Kate shook her head: -My child, this isn't right: what do you think, am I too poor or too bad to you? You just have to ask, I'll get clothes for you. Why are you stealing? And why are you always hanging out with these kids? I don't want you out there, you're turning into a delinquent.-

At that moment Lapis came home too, motorcycle jacket unzipped and no helmet in sight.

-Honey, where's the helmet?-

-They stole it! See mum, real thugs steal necessary things like bike helmets!- Lazuli winked at her twin brother and immediately jumped to his side.

Later that night Lapis hugged his sister under the covers: -Sis, have we always teamed up?-

She thought about it: yes, except for that time, at birth. She couldn't come out, so that her brother had stayed stuck in there for a longer time.

Only once had they not agreed, when Lazuli had wanted by all means to dye the ends of her hair red.

-I say you are not gonna like it. Don't do it.-

-You are just a smug know-it-all, Lapis.-

-I say it because I KNOW YOU.-

Eventually Lazuli hadn't had the balls to go crying in his arms when she had had to cut more than half the length of her mane because Lapis, damn it, was right.

Then, what was the deal with that stupid mohawk? Looking at her brother's gelled hairstyle, Lazuli thought he looked much better when he let his hair down.

Bruno was a twenty year-old young man. And Lazuli, a fourteen year-old with diaphanous skin, was his girlfriend.

-Take a look- he said, handing her a brand new pack of condoms.

Her eyes shone like gemstones: -Very good!-

She had said nothing to her mother, neither about her relationship with Bruno, nor about their intentions.

Lately Kate had found herself rejecting a fair number of boys, some young men too, who came knocking on the door looking for Lazuli:

_-She's just a schoolgirl. Go away.-_

Kate closed the door, struggling to accept that time was passing.

Lapis went about in town -and sometimes up to Central City- using her car (without asking, and without a license) and the police knew it already, thanks to the large quantity of fines Kate had to pay because of her son.

Kate acknowledged that something was wrong: nothing had changed in the relationship between she and her children, and between the two of them. Indeed, the more they grew, the more inseparable they became.

Their relationship with the world had changed: thefts and vandalism with the rest of the gang were becoming daily bread, a very bitter morsel for Kate.

She resorted to prayers, the doubt tortured her:

_-__Where did I go wrong? __Why are t__hey__ so difficult? __Lord, if you are there, please watch over them.-_

Little did that loving, overwhelmed mother know.

Little did the twins know about someone watching them in the shadows when the night fell and they roamed some seedy, grim blocks in Central City; or about the extraordinary world that coexisted with their simple, quiet human dimension.

Kate, Lapis and Lazuli ignored the incredible adventure that they were about to live, only a few years in the future.

An adventure that would have changed their world forever.


	2. The Spider Web

**2\. The Spider Web**

-What's up?-

-...nothing.-

Lazuli glanced at her brother, who looked back at her to make it clear that he was not convinced, at all. She was sitting at her desk counting a bunch of notes with utter satisfaction.

His gaze grew colder:

-You know, I don't appreciate you lying to me: something is not right with you, and I can pick it up. Like a signal, you don't say.-

She shook her head and heaved a sigh, her straight bobbed hair gracefully moving with her:

-I don't know; I'm worried.-

Lapis's eyes widened in bewilderment: it was the first time in sixteen years that his twin sister had said something like that. Not even when gang life was tough had Lazuli ever shown the slightest sign of fear.

-I'm very worried: I haven't told anyone.-

-Well Lazuli, good for you! You hid it from our mother but remember, you can lie to anyone but me.-

Her brother's impatience was starting to irk Lazuli:

-Gimme a break! I kept it to myself because at first I thought it was nothing and I didn't want you to stress.-

Lapis rested his chin on his hand, drawing in a breath: brotherly love always won.

-I'm afraid someone is stalking me. Let me explain: for about a month, every time I've come home alone there was always an old man asking me to help him cross the street. At first it didn't feel weird, but then I noticed that he was always there, always waiting for me. I saw him from afar as I approached the intersection, down the street.-

-An old man?- the boy asked with a frown -waiting for you every day to cross the road with you?-

Lazuli nodded. But only when she was alone: if Lapis or anyone else was with her, he didn't show up.

-Do you think it has anything to do with other gangs?-Lapis said nothing; he just walked back and forth staring at the floor tiles, arms crossed over his chest.

-Do you know what he's been asking me lately?- Lazuli burst into a hysterical laughter -to go for walks with him, to go home with him!-

Hearing that Lapis winced, raising his head. Dark hair framed the burning gaze in his eyes:

-Who is it? Tell me, I'll smash him. I mean it.-

Lapis had never felt like that; he was no stranger to men and women ogling his sister, guys knocking on the door or catcalling her in the streets.

A pretty girl like Lazuli turned heads wherever she went, the brother was used to it. However thinking of an old sleazebag stalking Lazuli, touching her as he spoke to her not only disgusted him, it made him angry.

_I'm going to put a bullet through you_ angry.

-Don't rush- Lazuli protested -we never killed anyone, we mustn't start now.-

The two of them had managed to stay afloat and make money without getting locked up thanks to their discretion.

They were very careful: where they went, what they did, how they moved around. Nobody in the gang knew their faces, the two of them were very jealous of their identity: knowing that their appearance would be easy to remember they ran their shady business dressed in total black, wearing black balaclavas and also contacts to mask the colour of their eyes.

So did the rest of the gang.

-I don't even know his name. I just know that either I'm going crazy, or I see him everywhere, even the street my window faces onto!-

Lapis swallowed and sighed, tapping his flustered sister on the shoulder:

-Don't be afraid, you can count on me, is that clear? And just a tip, never go around unarmed. Too bad you don't have one of these.-

He gave her a sly grin, letting her admire the Colt M1911 he kept resting on the palms of his hands, not to tarnish the shiny metal.

-So is this yours? Where did you get that?- Lazuli asked softly.

-It was in the storage unit.-

Lately Lapis had gotten a taste for cracking lockers and safes, the box where Kate had stored the junk that had accumulated in the house over the years had been very easy: -I think it was our mother's. That's dope.-

Their mother? A gun?

Lazuli lowered her gaze: -Maybe it would be better to tell her. About the old man. Even if I don't feel like.-

He shrugged, glancing at her in all honesty: -Do as you wish, I won't betray you.-

From that time on, Lazuli followed her brother's advice and got herself a switchblade she always carried with always tried to be in someone's company and to show off a carefree attitude, even if her restlessness burrowed its way through her heart.

Lapis could already drive but was still taking his license; waiting for it, they had purchased a motorcycle.

-As soon as I turn eighteen I'll start to participate in some races. Rally, yeah, I can't wait!- he said with a genuine smile

.Lazuli snorted in annoyance: throwing money away and jeopardising oneself just to race with those stupid cars was something she couldn't understand.

Kate didn't know about the when she caught them coming home with it, never had the twins seen their mother so angry: the blue of her eyes glowed while she stood in the hallway with a grim look on her face.

-There's no point in getting mad, mum. We bought it with our money.-

-What money? The money you earn while you're in class, Lazuli?-

Kate was nobody's fool; no answer came from the twins.

The motorbike was very useful for getting away quickly; Lapis also used it to pick Carly up under the iron gaze of her father, and also to go out of town on his own to practice shooting in motion, while driving.

He had fallen down more than once, but thanks to his will he was now able to better hit the lights and mirrors of the police cars that sometimes chased them.

-You. Straight up to your room.-

Kate pushed Lapis up the stairs, speaking she was alone with Lazuli her mother looked daggers at her, so hard that the girl couldn't keep silent:

-You should be grateful not to know, mum, I'll never tell you. And don't even think of stressing my brother with your questions.-

However, there were times when Lazuli could not help but go home she entered the house eyes puffy with tears; as soon as she saw her, Kate got up and ran to hug her daughter.

In the arms of her mother Lazuli broke into a sad cry: -I can't take it anymore!-

Kate stroked her hair and let her vent her anxiety: -When you feel like talking about it, you'll know where to find me.-

The girl nodded and wiped her tears. If Lapis had seen her he would have gotten concerned.

-Thanks. You're so sweet.-

She hugged Kate hard, while her voice cracked again. She felt bad for her mother, they loved each other so well.

So why did she persist in keeping everything from her? She was clearly breaking her heart. Lazuli couldn't even talk to her about the old man now.

As usual, nothing escaped Lapis:

-Well, at least tell me what he looks like. Tall, short? Is he that old?-

Lazuli described a rather small, stooped bald man.

-And then? What does he usually wear?-

Lazuli slammed her fists on her thighs: -This is too much!-

Lapis curled his lip, patronising:

-You are too vague, you must remember as many details as possible. I can't afford killing the wrong guy.-

-_Kill?_ Anyway, his beard and moustache are snow white, he's got a hooked nose and looks well into his seventies.-

The youngest twin gave a small gasp. Stunned and nervous, he started biting his thumb until he jumped up and snapped his fingers:

-Ah, I see now! I know who the motherfucker is.-

Lazuli looked at him quizzically.

-Yup!- he continued -I recall: the first time I saw him was at the car wash. I was there with Carly, she told me that she had spotted a guy with crazy eyes, she was afraid he would be a problem...does he look like a loony?-

Lazuli wrinkled her nose and opened her eyes wide as she nodded.

-It's him! That goddamn geezer, I'll kill him. He was standing next to the hoses; I got one to rinse the car and he kept telling me _let me help you, that looks heavy_.-

-Let me understand, first he begs me to help him to cross the street because, poor thing, he can't do it; then he goes to you, a healthy young person, and asks if he can help you carry a hose?-

Lapis sighed, hands on his hips: -Yes, apparently. I thought he was interested in Carly.-

As soon as he saw the geezer get close to her, Lapis had dropped the hose and rushed to the car. He had violently grabbed the old man and thrown him to the ground, then punched him straight in the face.

_-Are you crazy? Stop it!-_ Carly had thrown herself out of the car to go hold him, all trembling _-please!-_

But Lapis would have kept hitting if two men at the car wash hadn't blocked him, preventing him from hitting again, letting the old man leave.

Now that he thought about it, Lapis realised that he had made his Carly cry.

The thought saddened him and he chased it away:

-... but now that I think about it, he was there other times, even last week! And I went to the car wash alone.-

The twins started musing over that increasingly worrying situation; ironically normal people usually turned to cops for these things.

The two of them had trouble with the police, Lapis had recently wounded an agent with a gunshot. The boy wondered if having to constantly watch his back was the price to pay for being a thug. What if they were responsible youngsters instead, as every sane person in their entourage expect from them?

_-What will you do after school? Carly is thinking medical school, perhaps in West City.-Mr. Der Veer stared at him while the three of them were sitting at the table at her house._

_Lapis didn't know._

_Later, while the man was out in the garden, the youths had talked about it one more time._

_-Medical school, then?-_

_-Yes, actually I'm aiming for paediatrics but that'll be for later, when I'll specialise.-_

_-West City, huh...I will be stuck here instead.-_

_Carly smiled at him, holding his hand and resting her head on his shoulder:_

_-But no, Lapis. You will only finish school a year after me and West City is not that far away.-Lapis surprised himself to realise once again how lucky he was to have such a sweet, smart and caring person by his side._

_How great did she look, his Carly? Not as great as he did, he could give himself the answer: but her radiant smile and ginger hair were to die for. _

_She was a blooming, apple-cheeked young woman; he loved her freckles, delicate golden specks that lit up her button nose and eyelids. They looked good with her green eyes._

_-In any case I am truly happy with your choice, you really have to do it. So you will take good care of our children.-_

_Carly had blushed at the thought. Lapis had looked at her, amused and innocent:_

_-What is it? What did I say?-_

_-The children...-_

_-I like kids, why is it so hard to believe? One day I will be a responsible adult- he had said boastfully, pointing to himself -and then we will have children. But not now. When we're old, like twenty-five.-_

_It was a serious matter for him and obviously he had already told Lazuli, who thought it was unusual that her twin brother could see so ahead from the current stage of their life; however she was sure that one day he would be a good father._

_-I'd love to.-_

_-Seriously?- Lapis had given her one of his rare bright smiles. _

_Carly was still blushing, perfectly picturing herself a decade later, carrying around with pride and beauty a large bump, their baby tucked inside it:_

_-Yes, love. But then, on your path to being a_ responsible adult_ what are you planning to do after school? The same you do now?-_

_Carly wondered if it would really take all those years for Lapis to stop being a gangster. He had never told her about it, but Carly knew it all the same and was very afraid that his lifestyle would endanger him._

_The thought had stuck in her head and bringing it up once again, she couldn't help crying._

_-Come on, Carly? There we go...Come here.-_

_Lapis had embraced her with a sigh; he had made her cry, again._

He considered himself a selfish person because he just wanted to have fun and provoke, and so far he hadn't cared at all about what others thought. But he had become increasingly aware that among the others were three people that mattered to him more than himself: his mother, his sister, and Carly.

Two out of three wept regularly because of his wrongdoings.

Lapis loved Carly and felt at peace with her; he was glad to experience something different from what he felt for his sister and mother. His girlfriend gave him that stability that derived from not being in an inexplicably empathetic relationship as with Lazuli, in which every joy, every fear, every disappointment, every torment was shared.

But if he really wanted to be with her, sooner or later Lapis must have stopped. He wondered how Carly had endured this side of him for a year, and forced himself to take it as a motivation.

Why did he do this? He and Lazuli were two kids from "the good neighbourhoods", it was certainly not a matter of survival.

For Lazuli it was simple: money, money, money.

She wanted the money, she loved the money, even if mother had never lacked it, it was never enough.

And he? Did he want to prove anything? Was he bored?

There would have been so many things he could have done, but it was fun to stab people from rival gangs, to shoot, to show dominance.

He could easily spend the morning in class, the afternoon with sweet Carly and the evening leading the gang.

What to do after school, then?

At home the siblings were extremely secretive, even though they were very aware that they could not fool their mother.

Poor Kate!

The twins loved her wholeheartedly, but they just couldn't be quiet and peaceful.

-Anyway, I'll kill him. As soon as he tries to touch you he's dead- said Lapis with a blank stare.

-No! I don't want you to end up in juvie- she said, removing a piece of hair from his eyes.

He put it back, and took his twin sister's hands:

-Lazuli, we are criminals: sooner or later we will go to juvie anyway, so it's worth it.-

-Are you willing to get locked up for me?- she chuckled -what is it, did you finally get tired of screwing little miss perfect?-

Gobsmacked, Lapis pushed his sister and made her fall to the ground.

-Don't you dare. Talk about me and Carly like this one more time and see what you'll get.-

She screamed, got up and pushed him back, wishing to be angry at him:

-If we have to lose everything, I don't want you to be the one to pay the price. We'll take him down together and then we'll get locked up, together. I can't stand the idea of living without you.-

Lazuli pronounced those words ignoring the fact that males and females were separated in prison.

Lapis was still an immature child, but Lazuli was well aware of how bad not to see him anymore would hurt her. She saw herself as the sun and he was her moon: many boys had been jealous of the attention she gave him, subtracting it from them.

But she didn't care:_ the world is full of guys, I only have one twin brother,_ she said to herself.

Lazuli was bound to him from the first spark of life; they had spent nine months together in the womb, had had the same diseases, had shared even the most hidden secrets.

It would have been cruel and unfair to let him face a fate as grim as juvie, alone.

They had to support each other for better or for worse.

/

Kate was consumed by the constant search for something missing or went wrong in her job as a were flaws, it was crystal clear, and yet it always seemed to her to be giving her all for them.

Never had she dismissed their problems or underestimated their needs, she had done everything to settle on their wavelength and to be a good listener.

They were reluctant, even though Kate sensed their unconditional love for her.

She had vowed to protect her children since they were still inside her, to be a good mother.

The once turbulent and happy children were now young adults: Lapis and Lazuli had turned eighteen and the seriousness of their actions could have weighed much more from that moment on.

Their mother couldn't really take action: although they skipped school often, they stayed afloat.

They had never lost a year nor had the principal ever called Kate, because their behaviour was tolerable within those walls.

It felt like they behaved well in school in order to get out of there as quickly as possible, to devote themselves full time to what really mattered to them: things that Kate knew little and nothing about, which only increased her sense of helplessness.

Their childhood was long gone, but only when Kate observed their body did she realise how grown up they were.

Lazuli had become a beauty, just like her mother: tall and slender, with a chiselled face.

_Kate in blonde_, they said.

She was now a woman; she had always felt more mature and older, but she was no longer in a hurry to grow and had acknowledged that Lapis was _almost_ even with her.

Lapis had also lost many boyish traits. He still looked a lot like his sister and especially like Kate, with his dark hair that now came down to his collar; his voice was lower, his chest and shoulders had grown wider and his hips narrower.

He was almost more handsome than Lazuli, mother thought.

And then he was less impulsive than he used to be.

If he and his sister had argued sometimes, now they did less than ever. They nearly agreed on everything and were very accommodating towards each other.

So what was the problem?

Nothing, apart from Lapis being a regular guest in more than one barrack in the Central City area, lately. He had spent a few nights in prison and his sister was no less of a trouble.

Despite everything, however, Kate saw that they were relatively serene: there had been a time, two years earlier, when she had seemed scared and worried and many times had cried, while he had been nervous and violent.

As usual they hadn't wanted to tell her much.

Kate's car keys jangled in her hand:-Lazuli, ready?-

-Just a minute, mum.-

Kate waited for ten minutes: -Did you have breakfast?-

-I don't feel like.-

That was another reason for arguing, Lazuli who didn't want to eat.

-Do you want to miss the start?-

The girl peeked through her bedroom door, giving Kate a big smile: no, of course not!

Lazuli stood in front of the mirror and hurriedly brushed her hair. There was no need for Kate to rush her! That was a _I don't know what to wear_ day and it had taken her some time to choose the best outfit.

Even if she only had to go see Lapis racing with his rally car, she always wanted to look smashing.

She caught up with Kate in the car: -Do you remember, how he couldn't stop bugging everyone with races? Now he's happy at least.-

-Don't you want to drive?-

If her daughter had been like her brother, she would have already forced Kate to give up her seat.

-Cars are nonsense, I'll learn sooner or later.-

Kate shrugged:-Oh well, as long as you enjoy always being dependent on others...-

That race had to be really something: it was full of people, cars and pilots, umbrella girls and music.

-Are you excited?-

-Who, me?-

Lapis flaunted a bold smile to Carly, who in turn smiled at him wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest.

That was her Lapis: a total braggart, but she could feel his racing heartbeat.

He squeezed her tightly, lifting her, then opened the door and got into his car:

-This one is for you.-

-Really? Thank you! Are you sure you don't want to dedicate it to Lazuli?-

-Well, let me think...-

Carly lowered the umbrella with a frown. Lapis watched her and then threw his hair back in a hearty laugh:

-Gotcha! Just kidding.-

Then he got out of the car to hug Carly one more time, gently nibbling her cheek before settling behind the wheel and giving a wink to her, closing the door.

Lapis started the engine to warm it up: he could not get tired of thrilling rally, of the drifts on winding roads and the jumps on rough ones.

He had waited for so long! Not just until his recent eighteenth birthday, he had always been fond of vehicles.

Three years earlier Kate had finally agreed on him getting a car, and that was how he had met Carly.

Lapis thought about the discussion he had had with her and her father two years earlier: now he knew more clearly that being a rally driver could have been a good choice for him.

Right now, sometimes he came home with a few bruises and even if he didn't win every time it didn't matter: every race was a lesson.

And a nice game.

-Didn't your boyfriend come?-

Kate and Lazuli, sitting in the grandstand, waited for the race to start. The girl looked absently at the cars preparing to race and at the umbrella girls going here and there.

_-Boyfriend. Sure, mum, sure.-_

Lazuli felt sorry for her mother, who did not know: that one was only a boy she had stolen from Sara for the sole purpose of having sex a couple of times, maybe three.

Sara had wronged her and she had made her pay: every time she had been with that guy Lazuli had pictured Sara crying with rage, her fake nails tangled in her fake blonde hair.

Now she almost regretted her actions, because Sara had cut all the ties with her, she didn't even want to see her.

-Which boyfriend? We broke up.-

She hadn't even mentioned it to Lapis, knowing that he would judge her. Lazuli was almost sure that if her _male_ twin had been in her place, nobody would have said anything; because it's obvious that if a woman sleeps with a lot of different guys, then she is not respectable; however if a man does exactly the same, then he is a_ casanova_.

Hadn't she been female, Lazuli would have lived more freely as a_ casanova_, without feeling the need to hide.

She was so far ahead of her brother, at thirteen she was already alert and at fourteen she had done it for the first time; instead she could count on one hand all the people Lapis had had sex with, before coming across that Carly girl.

Lazuli still didn't like her and was surprised that Lapis had not yet grown tired; he thought he liked stronger women, not pallid damsels in distress.

_-Aren't you jealous, by any chance?-_ he had asked with a laugh.

For Lazuli Carly only liked him because of his looks, like the rest of those bitches, thinking of him as a prince charming or another fantastic creature.

How childish, princes charming didn't exist.

And the two of them were too different, a role model/gigantic nerd and the armed leader of a gang.

Lazuli wondered how much longer he would have to endure Carly, but given their differences and also the fact that they were still in high school, she felt tranquil.

That little _pin-up_, soft and big-titted was objectively pleasant, that she owed her.

Lazuli envied her brother for having someone who loved him as he was, childish and with crooked teeth, while she was always forced to reject advances or to settle for something that didn't satisfy her, so that she always gave up.

-Ah ...- Kate commented -what was wrong with that one?-

Lazuli didn't know what to say: they broke up, that was it!

-His ears. They were too big.-

Sometimes she got angry about it. Why things went so well only for Lapis, what was wrong with her?

Her brother understood it and tried not to hurt her.

-Look at Lapis- Kate distracted her from her thoughts.

Lazuli had already seen him: he was leaning on the hood of his car which he had brought to the start line, chatting with another pilot; his black hair and orange t-shirt were easy to spot from afar.

_-Come on, bro, do your best. I'm here watching you.-_

Lazuli smiled, convinced that her positive energy would surely be transmitted to her brother, supporting him.

-Mum, how older am I in the end?- she asked quickly.

-About an hour.-

She was the older twin and always saw Lapis as her younger, immature brother.

However, she had noticed how he had grown, especially in recent times.

Surely he must have noticed that she too had changed. Lazuli was glad that Lapis didn't mind that she was almost as tall as he, without heels; some guys didn't like this about her.

Kate knew that the twins had noticed each other's physical changes because they had discussed them with her, separately.

_-... and it feels like yesterday, when I held them in my arms.-_

Kate smiled and glanced at her young woman, sitting next to her, and at her young man, who in the meantime had gotten into the car and was waiting for the race to start.

With a gunshot, the cars started biting the road fiercely.

Lapis was doing well: _-I don't have to go too fast right away, otherwise I risk lagging behind later.-_

He focused on the wheel and on the road, aggressively bumping other cars.

The adrenaline rushed through his body, he loved too much to impose himself on others and show off.

That time was different, he wanted to win: he was strong, he was the strongest and the others had to make up for it.

He knew all too well that he should not get caught up in his hubris, otherwise he would have gone back to square one, like in his debut race, when he had crossed the finish line first at the expense of some other driver and had been disqualified.

Nice start!

That time he had gotten so mad that, if it hadn't been for the audience, he would have surely dragged the judge to a corner and persuaded him in some very effective fashion.

_-Poor me!-_ Kate always said to him _-you alone were not enough to mess around. Now it's you with your car._-

_-Mum, what does that mean?-_ Lazuli intervened _-your cuisine is outlandish but we don't even complain, do we? Nor do we tell you that you don't have to do it anymore!-_

Classic Lazuli, winking victoriously to her brother and smiling coyly at her.

_-How stupid I was... things have to be done discreetly-_ Lapis thought, abruptly steering and bumping into another car.

-Sorry!- he shouted, chuckling.

_-Come on love, do it for me ...-_

Lazuli stared blankly at the nerd, who was now sitting there with them and fidgeted watching the cars race and leave behind a dusty track.

-What did my brother say to you before he left?- the blonde asked eloquently.

Carly still felt belittled by Lazuli's presence despite being a year older than the twins:

-Nothing. He wants to win this one for me.-

Lazuli forced herself to smile and brought her thoughts elsewhere.

Time had passed, but she never felt fully serene; she tried not to think about it, but then how could she forget the eerie old man who had stalked them both up to two years ago?

_-I'm psychotic. Seriously_\- she thought every evening, when before closing the shutters she looked down on the street, seeking the glistening of a white beard, the shape of a figure hidden among the crannies of the street.

And she felt really stupid, because every time after the inspection she threw herself on the bed and heaved a sigh of relief.

By now she could no longer help looking hard and be vigilant every time she left the house, feeling a knot in her stomach upon seeing elderly men who always revealed themselves to be showed off a tough face while her legs were shaking.

Lapis, lucky him, seemed to have overcome it. No wonder, he was not a girl! Women were almost always the ones to be raped in the streets.

But he hadn't forgotten the promise he had made to her, Kate's gun always in his hand.

As Lapis's red car crossed the finish line, she was still immersed in her own thoughts and when Kate, Carly and other spectators exulted Lazuli came back down to earth; did she miss anything?

She ran up to Carly: -Did he win? Did he do it?-

The slutty fairy kept on jumping enthusiastically: -It's unclear: it was he and another, side by side one hundred metres from the finish line. They kept bumping into each other but nobody got knocked out and they crossed the finish line together. Now the judges have to watch the footage to decide.-

Lazuli smiled and approached her mother: -Shall we go?-

The three women got off the grandstand and joined the pilots in the dust of the finish line.

Lapis had already gotten out of the car, and seeing his girls he ran towards them. He was breathing frantically, with a frown on his face.

Heedless of the great cloud of dirt Carly walked briskly towards Lapis, then hugged and kissed him decisively, almost aggressively, while he held her up.

Lazuli watched with a little melancholy.

Then she tried to distract herself and noticed how thrashed her brother was: the sweaty t-shirt clung to his back and to the sinewy muscles of his stomach, a light layer of dust covered his hair, making it dull.

When the others noticed it, all three burst into laughter

.-Well?- he asked restlessly.

-Did you sweep the track? You look like a duster.-

As Lazuli ruffled Lapis's hair, he gave her the death stare. Putting herself in his shoes, Lazuli understood very well how tense he could feel.

-Silence, please. We have a winner!-the judge announced -Michael, car 99 and Lapis, car 32, are our contenders: according to the frames, by a split second...-

_-Say it. Be quick.-_ said Lapis internally.

-...the first place goes to car number 99. Michael!-

Micheal's friends came up to him, the judge shook his hand and offered him the first prize, then did the same when offering the second prize to the young Lapis, tapping his hand hard on the shoulder.

-Good job, boys, what a race. You were great, you looked like one of those action movie! Keep racing.-

The judge spoke softly, so that only the two of them could hear him.

Lapis saluted his competitor and went home with his family. He had finally relaxed and smiled while his mother, sister and sweetheart held him in a collective hug:

-My baby boy- Kate gave him a loud kiss that made his cheeks turn red.

-Are you satisfied?- Lazuli asked gently.

He nodded discreetly, but she knew he had had a good time.

That the race had met his expectations.

That everyone had noticed him.

That he had found a worthy opponent.

That she, Kate and Carly were there to cheer him on with their banner, their hair blowing in the wind and their bright smiles, and he had counted on it.

_-That this is a moment of perfect happiness without intruders or unpleasant details-_ added Lazuli personally, genuinely believing that nothing could have ruined the magic of that moment.


	3. Torn

3\. Torn

The rave was loud.

It wasn't fun inside, there were too many people; too many crazy people.

Lazuli chatted with a group of friends just outside the warehouse.

It was a cold autumnal night but freezing was always better than staying inside.

The guy she liked for that night asked her if she was cold, if she wanted to go back inside, but she only wanted to stay away from the chaos, calmly smoking her cigarette.

She could be a delinquent, yes, but she wasn't a crack junkie.

The guy, shorter than she was, had been hugging her hips all night, leaning comfortably with his head on her shoulder.

This was annoying, Lazuli tried to make herself understood:

-This party's lame, gonna go home.-

She threw the butt of her cigarette on the ground and crushed it with the tip of her sneakers.

-Already?- one of her friends asked.

-I'm just waiting for my bro to come back since he's the one who drives.-

It was always Carly's fault; Lapis had accompanied her home and who knows where he was now.

Her cell phone rang and Lazuli found a message: _"Coming now."_

The girl read it aloud and chuckled.

She took a step and the guy moved with her, always guiding her movements with those blasted hands.

-Stop it now! I'm not a mannequin, I can walk alone!- she snapped.

-Sorry- he whispered, intimidated -so, leaving?-

Lazuli stifled a laugh: what did he hope to do with her? While she waited, Lazuli started thinking about her brother and Carly: who knows if Lapis had just accompanied her home, given how long it was taking him to come back to the warehouse where the rave was taking place.

He arrived shortly after, loud music streaming throw his open window.

Lazuli hopped immediately to his side and pleaded with him, clinging to his arm:

-Let's hit the road.-

-Wait up. I haven't even been here for an hour, all things considered, let me have a drink.-

Lapis was always kind when he spoke to her, nevertheless his sister pouted and went back to _Captain Hands._

-Remember, you have to drive!-

Lazuli followed Lapis with her gaze and then went back to her friends. The guy was still following her and she was growing more and more unnerved:

-Okay, okay, but on my terms.-

She caught the guy and dragged him by the arm, passing by Lapis who was drinking with his rally friends.

_-I just hope those drinks are non-alcoholic.-_ she thought, curling up in a corner with the guy and letting him kiss her.

The guy was good: his hands skilfully skimmed over Lazuli's curves and probed her subtly, as one would touch a violin.

She let those hands sneak to the small of her back and then kissed the man attached to them angrily, sticking her nails in the nape of his neck.

Lazuli clung to him, crossing her legs around his waist as he carried her to the cloakroom.

His delicate hands laid Lazuli between strangers' coats that had fallen all over the floor and she felt an urge stirring in her solar plexus, an ecstatic fury: yeah, that evening she wanted to lose herself, forget everything for a moment.

In another furious kiss she bit his lips and he didn't seem to notice when she placed her mouth on his closed eyelids, while his hands moved gratefully to her breasts.

The young woman put her finger on the dark line that ran under his navel and went further and further down between his legs, until he grabbed her by the shoulders and they sealed their lips once again.

Lapis knocked back the last cocktail and started eyeing the warehouse, looking for his sister.

He looked for her on the dance floor among the sweaty crowd, then went back to the bar counter before looking for her out in the parking lot too.

-Have you seen Lazuli?- he asked his friends.

-Yes, I saw her going in there with a guy- the bartender answered quickly, pointing to the cloakroom.

Lapis winced lightly: in the cloakroom, all right...

He walked away with his gaze fixed on the back of the huge room.

-What's up, babe.-

The bartender winked as she ogled the frowning teenager, but he dismissed her.

At the same time, the guy's violinist hands were grasping Lazuli's firm breasts tenaciously, striving to extract them from her underwear and top.

The girl's hands were still holding his manhood, but when he threw himself on her, his face nuzzling her chest, something stopped her; she immediately withdrew her hands from the guy's body and protected her own.

She could not justify her reaction, but she didn't enjoy the thought of that guy working her nipples with his mouth, something weird and subtle that Lazuli didn't want to hold on to.

-That's enough!-

She yelled and pushed the guy away, adjusting her neckline.

He looked at her, dumbfounded, as she got up quickly, ran towards the door and left:

-Goodbye.-

Walking away from the cloakroom, Lazuli did a few yards backwards, like a shrimp; when she turned around she abruptly bumped into Lapis's chest.

-Here you are!- they said in unison, then he smiled at her.

-Here you are, what were you doing in there?-

-I was with some guy: can we go home? Are you happy now?-

The boy sighed, shrugging with satisfaction: -Ah, yes! Now we can go home, I wanted to come and tell you.-

Lazuli looked at her cell phone and her eyebrows shot up in surprise: -Half past two, jeez. Let's hit the road if you don't want the old woman Kathryn to give us the speech.-

Her brother blew away a long strand of hair from his eye, remembering with disappointment that mum would have been unhappy to see them come back too late:

-Sure you want to to go?-

-Sure as eggs is eggs.-

-Sorry, let's wait a minute.-

Lapis felt it was not the best time to drive, he was now feeling a mild drowsiness; if Lazuli had noticed, she would have scolded him for drinking too much, while he wasn't even tipsy.

Lazuli could be a true pain in the ass, sometimes, with her smugness and convinction that she was better than he.

-What's wrong? Are you drunk?- she asked, speaking gently and with concern.

-I'm okay.-

He shook his head with a smile, but a sudden hiccup betrayed him and he looked at his sister with a fake air of apology.

-I knew you were drunk- snorted Lazuli, even if she hadn't the motivation to rebuke him.

-Man, I wanna eat. That would fix everything.-

Lazuli rolled her eyes; Lapis could be a true annoyance, so childish he was.

-Okay then, we'll have an early moring snack.-

Shortly afterwards they were ready to leave: they weren't that late, it was only three in the morning and it would have taken them twenty minutes to get home.

Lapis turned up the music and they both started singing. Lazuli leaned her feet on the dashboard and closed her eyes: her brother drove really well, even if he was going a tad too fast.

Not another soul passed on that lane, a thick, heavy fog rose from the fields on either side of the road.

-What you are going to do tomorrow?-

-I will stay at Carly's, most likely. You?-

-Dunno; I'll go get some clothes with mum. You know, my love life is not as intense as yours.-

There was a hint of resentment in Lazuli's voice.

-Here we go- Lapis heaved a sigh, glancing at his sister -look, it's not just up to you. Your moment is only yet to come.-

Lazuli was about to scold him, when she saw a sort of white lighning crossing quickly the road, making her jolt on her seat:

-CAT! Watch out!-

Lapis could not ask any question, for the sudden fright he steered hard, losing control of the wheels: the car zigzagged in the opposite lane and ended up in a empty field.

The girl got out immediately and as soon as she realised that nothing serious had happened; she ran on the other side of the car and opened the door.

-Are you okay?-

Lapis also got out and learnt that he could still walk: -Yeah, I am. How are you?-

-I'm good. What a scare.-

Lazuli felt tears rushing to her eyes, clouding her vision: anxiety began to release her from its grip and she sat down on the dirt, swallowing saliva, trying not to cry.

-No, come on! Everything is fine, nothing happened- Lapis hugged her and helped her up -we are both well, see? Don't worry.-

-But you are bleeding!-

The boy gave a look at himself and shrugged, he must have just bumped his leg against something.

Lazuli didn't like to see it when her brother was injured or simply unwell; even when the wound was a simple red smudge on his knee.

She wiped her tears:-You really drive like shit. You went off the road.-

He stared at her: -My fault, yeah? It doesn't seem to me that I was the one screaming like crazy, suddenly! I almost had a heart attack.-

-There was a cat!- she stood her ground -it crossed the road and we were running it over!-

Lapis stepped over the low embankment of the field and scrutinized the road; there were no signs of an accident with a cat.

-I know, I saw it too and between that and your scream I skidded. Anyway I didn't run it over. It must have gone away.-

The boy went back to the car and looked at his sister:-Well? What now?-

Lazuli pondered their situation: the road was deserted, their cell phones didn't have any signal and the car was half in and half out a field -it was Kate's jeep, too-, it was almost four in the morning, they had thrown their schedule out of the window and home was a good fifteen minutes away, by car.

-Let's walk, bro: or let's get the car out of here.-

-You're joking, aren't you?-

The night was cold and foggy, walking on a country road would have been extremely dangerous: they would have ended up like that cat.

But there they were, no options.

The twins had nothing to lose, so they tried to pull the car out of the field, grabbing its bumpers and pulling with all their might until they were flushed and felt hot with strain. And exactly as they had forecast the car didn't budge an inch.

-It's no use, this thing's too heavy. Damn it!-

Lapis panted, kicking the bumper on his way back to the driver's seat.

He turned on the adio again and then went back to keep company to his sister:

-At least music will help make this place less disturbing.-

The girl observed the indistinct silhouette of the countryside, hidden in the mist:

-Let's go on the road. Hereit's really creepy with all this fog, nobody can see us.-

As the music played loudly the twins stood on the roadside, waiting. No one passed by.

They returned to the jeep.

-Do you think this place is always so deserted?- Lazuli looked at her brother with apprehension.

-I have no idea, we're in the sticks.-

-Can you imagine? What if the creepy old man showed up right now?-

Lapis grabbed his sister's arm, shaking his head: -No no, Lazuli: that's enough for tonight.-

Time passed.

To evade the flatness of that sinister misty night the twins listened to music, got into the car trying to sleep but were too uneasy.

Lapis checked the jeep for damage:

-I'm thinking of our mum; if she didn't go to bed she's probably freaking out.-

Lazuli nodded, scanning the ocean of fog; she heard a crunch, as if someone was trampling the straw on the ground.

-Don't get too far, Lapis! It's dangerous!-

When Lapis peeked out of the car, Lazuli felt her blood curdle. He hadn't taken a step, yet that noise had come from the field and she had heard it well.

-Let's get out of here- she whimpered -I heard footsteps.-

-Are you certain?- he replied from inside the car -I hope it's not the cops. It would be an easy catch, not fair.-

Lazuli did not know whether to worry for the old man, who was now only a distant memory or for the police, something real that was actually hunting them down.

-Oh God; if they catch us now we're done, they'll throw us in jail.-

What was their last felony? Ah right, she and Lapis had set fire to a train. It was an accident that had happened had been during a chase with a member of another policemen hadn't caught them red-handed but the twins were two known offenders and surely by now they were searching for them.

Lazuli clearly heard another creak and took her knife from her listened too; the noise became more insistent and the girl withdrew the blade, rummaged quickly into the purse and pointed the gun straight ahead.

-Hey! That's mine! -

Lapis took it from her hands and stood before her: -Come on, move.-

-I actually think it's mum's. Stay back.-

Both felt creeped out, the sound of footsteps was now unequivocal.

Lapis cocked the Colt and spoke to his sister with a low voice: -I'm gonna shoot. Now.-

He was not playing around: the creaking and rustling went on and the boy pulled the trigger; the bullet slashed through the fog and travelled far, without hitting anything.

-I'm scared, the cops ...- Lazuli hid her face in Lapis's hair, her nails leaving scratch marks on his arm.

When the vague outlines of a figure began to appear far away in the fog, Lazuli closed her eyes and squeezed herself against her brother, who continued to shoot without hesitation. The figure faded away.

Lapis, short of breath, saw a small object rolling close to his foot from who knows where; it looked like a metallic plum. The moment the boy glanced at it, the object suddenly split in two and started releasing a dense smoke.

-What's happening?- Lazuli leaned over the twin brother's shoulder.

He began to falter, took a few steps back and slumped into her arms without a word.

She screamed in fear, unable to support Lapis's weight as he collapsed, making her fall tothe ground too.

-Lapis? Get up!-

The girl fell to her knees, screaming for help. The situation was now out of hand, she felt tired and weak, she was losing her clarity: -It's not fun; leave him alone ... please! The police! Lapis, wake up! Our mother.-

With ever shorter and more labored breath she shook her twin brother strongly and fought against an incomprehensible dizziness that was sending her to sleep.

Lazuli leaned forward, holding her forehead, trying desperately to keep her eyes open.

-No, goddamn it! They took us.-

She fell on her side, over Lapis, while everything around her faded to black.

She had waited for them for the whole week.

Whole, long days and nights spent tending her ear to the slightest noise, hoping that for a moment they would have entered through that door and said something to her.

Kate spent another white night in tears on the sofa, as dawn approached and the house stayed empty.

She didn't even want to imagine why, deep anguish prevented her from doing anything.

_"We'll be home no later than three AM"_ they had said before leaving.

Did they have an accident on the road? Had they stopped at someone's house without warning her?Yes, that was what had happened: they were always so busy.

The mother spent another four days waiting.

On the fifth sleepless night, Kate picked up the phone and dialed the number.-

Hello?-

-Am I talking to the police?-

-How can we help, madam?-

My children have disappeared.-

Carly kept calling Lapis on his cellphone, but for four days she had only found voicemail.

She was disheartened and worried: why had he never called her again?

Not only had she hadn't seen him since he accompanied her home on the night of the party, but he hadn't even texted her.

_-Is he dumping me?- _she thought, more and more frequently and increasingly afflicted _-yet why would he do that?-_

Her suspicions had collapsed when she had received a call from Kate. They had collapsed to make room for an indefinable fear: not even Kate had seen him for four days, neither he nor Lazuli.

Carly was pining, something serious must have happened: her Lapis would have never hidden from Kate, she knew it, she knew him.

Why did he feel he was in danger and that something serious going?

Something that would take him away from her?

-Ah! The twins.-

The policeman stretched his face in a smile: -The gangsters. Of course I see who they are.-

Kate wouldn't have known who else to turn to, given the circumstances.

She knew perfectly well that there had been some tension between her children and the police, but what to do? She certainly couldn't go looking for them on her own.

-How long have they disappeared?-

-Today is the eighth day.-

Kate said that on the evening of the alleged disappearance they had taken her car and had gone to a rave party.

She had waited for them but they had never returned.

-Are you sure they're not pranking you? Those two are terrible, you know?-

How about that…

A policewoman entered the station at that moment: -What's going on?-

She glanced at worried Kate.

-The twin thugs have disappeared.-

-The boy and girl on the train?- the woman widened her eyes.

-Definitely them. Don't you know, madam?-

Kate looked at the policeman, perplexed.

-Your sweet children set fire to a train not long ago.- the policewoman cut short.

-A train...- Kate murmured, face in her hands.

The police started the search and found Kate's car in a field, along the road that led to one of the Central City industrial districts, where local teenagers often gathered to party. The car lay in/out the field, the radio was still on, the doors were open.

But no sign of the twins. They hadn't left a trace.

-The accident was not serious, the car is in excellent condition and there are no traces of blood- said the detective -it makes me think that they got away from the car and were taken.-

As bad as the news could be, Kate felt minimally relieved, no bodies nor evidence of a murder were found around there.

She could only hope that they were still alive.

-Detective, look here! What is this?-

Another officer approached Kate and the group gathered near the jeep. In his hand he held something that resembled a small hand grenade. It was split in two even halves exactly, the shape was that of a rugby ball; it was made of metal and was hollow.

-I don't understand, it seems like the wrapping of something.-

The officer placed the suspicious object under the detective's eyes.

-A shell?- Kate approached the two and peered into the agent's hands.

-No, it's too big for any gun. And then how would you explain the split?- the detective took the mysterious object and peered at it, weighed it with his hand, he sniffed it.

-It really looks like an explosive device: but it's hollow and this kind of opening wasn't surely caused by a detonation.-

Nobody had noticed the micro camera which, placed inside the metal item, observed their every movement in detail.

A very strong light straight in her barely open eyes. Cold, hospital smell, a blurry figure hovering over her.

_-I'm dead; we had an accident. Am I dying? The police mistreated me.-_

Lazuli tried to move, but felt her stone-heavy limbs unresponsive to her commands, as if her head had been torn off her body. She heard high-pitched, screeching noises, she wanted to speak but only inarticulate sounds came from her mouth.

Her eyes widened for a moment in a desperate attempt, before her head turned so hard to force her to lie on her back; and then she fell asleep again.

The first thing Lapis saw, as soon as he woke up, was a tube full of blood going through his neck and another, in which a transparent liquid swirled, piercing his chest.

That view swept away the haze that still clouded his sight and, dismayed, he propped his elbows on the surface he was lying on, sitting up: it looked like an operating room, he was completely naked, aching. The room was full of machinery that looked like big computers.

_-What the hell…-_

He looked to his right and to his left and saw glass and cast iron vessels, each marked with a label. The other end of one of the two pipes was connected to such a vessel, but Lapis could not distinguish which one.

_-But where am I?-_ the boy started to look over his shoulder but screamed and pressed his chest: that tube hurt him terribly.

-Sis?-

He let himself fall backwards. Then he heard a noise, as of steps running down a staircase, and turned away from it.

-Go to sleep now; sleeping is good for you.-

He saw a kind of mask drop from above and fall on his face: he mumbled something, then let himself get carried away to the deepest ocean of a dreamless sleep.

_I miss you. Come back to me._

_I don't know what happened to you, but know that I will always be something you can hold on night my love. I love you._

Carly sighed as she wrote the message, knowing that nobody would have ever read it.

She hit _send_ and leaned against her bedroom window. The snow had already fallen, the year was coming to an end.

Sitting on the windowsill, curled up under a blanket, she drank a cup of hot chocolate.

The mid-December night seemed unbearable in its muffled calm: it had been almost a month since Lapis and Lazuli had disappeared into thin air, almost a month that Kate accompanied the detectives without hesitation in their search, constantly living in anxiety that one day they would find them dead.

She too was starting to think about it. And every night she cried.

Carly had always thought that Lapis was that kind of guy definitely out of her league.

She, the most bashful among her group of friends, the most inexperienced, the least popular: she was still like that at sixteen, when she met him.

She recalled to be feeling down that day, not really in the mood for helping out her father at the shop:

"_We are understaffed because some got sick, so you will have to help me with ourcustomers until further notice"_ Mr Der Veer had said.

Carly recalled to be killing time in the showroom, when her father had hurriedly left her with a customer: _"I leave the boy to you: show him some trendy cars, new and second hand. Treat him well!"_

The boy in question had brazenly plunged into her life with a sharp and confident gaze.

A gaze that had marked her heart instantly; .Carly had shown him with difficulty all the cars that might have sparked an interest in him, then he had left without even thanking her.

The days had passed and, against the odds, with the excuse of the car the boy had come back to the shop and they had started talking.

His name was Lapis and he was fifteen; Carly had never eyes like his.

So every time she thought about their first encounters in those two years, all the sighs, all the doubts, all the thoughts resurfaced:

"_He is too much for me; he'll never want me." _

He was one of those rare guys who talked a lot, even too much: sometimes he was a little full of himself.

He always spoke his mind and often told her how grateful he was for having crossed paths with Carly, a thought she returned.

With him she had changed, she had grown: hearing him repeat how beautiful he found her red hair, the jade of her eyes and her body, which was always too much for her, Carly had ended up believing it too and she was no longer so insecure.

_-But why does it all have to come back to me?- _she said to herself, looking at the street lamps cut the darkness outside of the window.

Suddenly, a heart-wrenching memory came back to her.

She remembered their first real date, a week after meeting in the shop.

_She was at school, sitting in the garden and nibbling something; she hadn't had time to go to lunch, the next day she would have had a big test and had yet to study two long chapters of history._

_But she was there looking around, unable not to think of various distractions._

_-Yo.-_

_Carly had turned around and seen the eyes that turned her legs into jelly within a metre of hers, give or take._

_Distractions of that type, precisely._

_-Hey, Lapis.-_

_Instinctively she had smoothed out her shirt and brush her hair behing her ears, in the meantime letting her book fall awkwardly. He had returned it to her with a sincere smile._

_It was the first time that Carly had seen him smile like that: she saw that his canines were slightly tilted, misaligned._

_It seemed to Carly that they introduced some asymmetry that stood out from the rest of his face, without ruining the final picture. In fact, she thought they added value to it._

_-What are you doing here?-_

_-...going to class?-_

_Carly did not know that he also attended the same high school; he told her that he usually never came on that side._

_-Why did you come then?-_

_-To ask you if you want to go for a walk with me.-_

_With her? No, was he serious?_

_Hand in hand with Lapis, Carly hadn't studied history that time and hadn't cared._

_It was during that afternoon that exchanged their first kiss._

_Carly had expected him to be impetuous, rough. That was the impression she had of him: despite the still present trail of childhood blunted his edges and rounded his lines, Lapis did not have a sweet, soft kind beauty. _

_And then his way of being was lively and irreverent, his face had a mischievous expression; Carly was surprised by the extraordinary sensitivity she instead experienced._

_He kissed Carly holding her close to his body, hands in her hair, in a way that wanted communicate the presence of his passion and also the absence of haste._

_Carly loved to kiss Lapis._

_She didn't know whether it was because it was the first time that it happened to her, or because she was already in love; she could have kissed that boy all day._

_-Look, if you want to cut and run do it before going any further with me.-_

_She was sure of her feelings, but she was thinking of what her friends, experts in that field,had said: boys in general just wanted to get in a girl's pants, that's why they courted her._

_-If you just want to get in my bed, forget it.-_

_She had found the courage to be straightforward, but saying those words she had felt tingling right there, under her skirt. Wait, did she _want_ that?_

_-Why cut and run? I can hardly wait to make love with you.-_

_The tingling had intensified and Carly had started to sweat. _

_She wanted to jump his bones, but she withheld herself._

_Maybe he was used that way, for him the chicks came and went?_

_Carly hardly believed her ears: -Wow, not beating around the bush. What does it mean? I don't do one-night stands.-_

_He seemed offended, he had looked at her with a kind of amused pout: -Eh no, Carly; I want us to do it many, many times.-_

She was tired and wanted to sleep, but she couldn't.

She tried to crawl into her bed, peering at it with her arms crossed and her eyes full of tears; the nostalgia was so overwhelming that Carly turned away and couldn't bring herself to sleep there, thinking about all the times she had made love in that bed.


	4. The Spider

**4\. The Spider**

The old doctor had watched them for a couple of years.

It had happened by chance: he had come across those two young outlaws prowling around Central City, looking for fresh meat for his experiments.

The doctor built machines. Very sophisticated machines, with top-notch artificial intelligence.

They were so sophisticated that the doctor was a criminal.

He had, in his time, worked for one of the most infamous military organizations the Country had ever seen, before a stupid boy named Son Goku had decided to wreck it.

The doctor was insane, and so were his goals; with his machines he aimed to annihilate his personal enemies, he studied them in every detail and the result was sublime.

They weren't just run-of-the-mill machines; the doctor built androids.

There had been a whole series, sixteen of them, but many were eventually destroyed by the same hands that had built them. There was always something missing, those androids were never what the doctor wanted, being too cruel, too rebellious or too meek.

In his research, over the years and years, the genius had come to understand how to build cyborgs too.

And one night many years later, while wandering in a gritty neighbourhood he had run into a set of twins.

Young, thriving, boy and girl; they were perfect.

They were delinquents and nobody would have missed them, exactly like the others he had taken in his quiet raids around the world.

The doctor had started watching them very discreetly, giving them a few more years to grow was worth the wait.

The girl had been easy to approach: it had been enough for him to pretend to be a little old man who needed help to cross the street. She was fairly nice and never denied him her hand.

On the other hand, with the boy it had not been so simple: ill-mannered and despotic, he hadn't allowed himself to be moved by a harmless old gentleman.

Ever since he had started keeping an eye on him too, the girl had no longer been easy prey: they always went around together, now also with third parties accompanying them.

He knew, thanks to the fact that he never lost sight of them, that they had noticed him.

The mother? It was not necessary to eliminate her, she was no obstacle: the twins had not even told her about him.

All he had to do was waiting quietly in the shadows, spinning his cobweb at the best of his abilities and watching his young victims fall into it sooner or later.

He had waited in the shadows for two years, observing them carefully, being increasingly pleased with the happy choice he had made and his good luck.

In those two years he had seen them grow just as he hoped, and become more serene too; day by day, they were slowly forgetting him.

The most propitious occasion only had to come and he was in no hurry: the best things happened to the ones who could wait.

And the occasion had come on a misty November evening. It was an eerily quiet night, the two preys were alone, nothing would have hindered him.

It had been enough to have the male twin lose control of the car and crash into a field; after that he had put them to sleep with some anaesthetic and had taken them away; it couldn't have been any simpler than that!

The difficult part had come as he had begun to restructure them: he wanted to give them infinite stamina, so that they would never be tired: nothing could have stopped them.

They would have wiped out all his enemies, first of all Son Goku.

But building cyborgs was an entirely different story, it couldn't compare to the construction of his notorious androids; the twins were yet another attempt.

The doctor's plan was extremely delicate and many test subjects had passed under his scalpel, within the walls of his laboratory; the bodies had piled up, failure after failure.

The doctor was concerned not to waste that new flesh: if he wanted his latest creations to maintain their human part, he could not deprive them of their vital functions.

While carrying out complicated open-heart surgery and the complete restructuration of their body for hours, he had to make sure to feed them and keep them alive.

Their body wasn't even the most complicated part of the job; the doctor had never found himself having to manipulate and shape two already formed minds, two lives that had already run their course for eighteen years.

He had to make sure that for _no reason_ they remembered who they were, where they came from and why they were there, it would have been fatal for his master plan.

Every now and then the twins woke up while he, armed with all his patience and genius, slowly converted them into cybernetic organisms; he just had to put them to sleep again, but the work was proceeding very slowly.

When the doctor finished, just over a year after the kidnapping, he tried to activate the cyborgs: he still had to perfect them, so he wanted to test their skills.

"_I made sure they know they must kill Son Goku; I hope I did a good job."_

The doctor cleaned up the twins from the traces of the last surgery, equipped them with new clothes, disconnected the pipes and sat in waiting. Almost an hour passed, but they did not wake up.

"_Here we go, I failed again: I expected to create two cyborgs and now all that I have is two more bodies" _the doctor clenched his fists and stood looking at the male, the first he had completed.

He looked up a moment and saw that the female was moving, followed almost immediately by her brother.

A flash of victory passed through the mind of the wild-eyed genius: he made it! He had managed to create two cyborgs for the first time.

The twins woke up and remained seated, looking at each other.

-Good morning, my dears, how do you feel? Is everything all right?-

The two youths did not reply; they only studied him with a flat look.

-Let me introduce myself: I am Dr. Gero, your creator. I think you two already know your name and the job I have entrusted you with.-

He approached the boy: -Who are you?-

The creation looked up at him: -Seventeen.-

-Very well. And your job is?-

-Kill Son Goku and sow terror among humans.-

-That's right. And you, what is your name?-

-Eighteen. And together with n. 17 I must sow death and destruction. That's why I was created.- The girl replied with a candid smile.

-It looks like you are well- asserted Dr. Gero, with satisfaction -this is my laboratory, as well as your home: you can go wherever you want, but be careful not to spoil the machinery.-

-Don't you worry, doctor- Seventeen nodded.

-You can trust us- Eighteen smiled.

The doctor returned to the computer he was working on and left the neo-cyborgs to explore his research institute.

The twins felt a little groggy, as if they had been under the influence of a drug that made them talk totally at random. Physically they felt fit, indeed, so full of energy that it seemed absurd to them to sit down to rest or even go to sleep.

They were never hungry; well, almost never, and when they needed something, it was taken care of.

The doctor was strict but he looked after them.

-Look, Seventeen!- once the girl opened a door and found the knob crumpled in her hand, like a sheet of paper -my strength is _insane._ Look!-

The male twin shook his head with a laughter: -Nonsense!-

He started to fly around the room and then suddenly pointed a hand towards a wall: a photon beam from his palm instantly incinerated the unfortunate computers that were there on its trajectory.

-Wow, we're super strong!-

-Of course. I installed an _infinite power core_ inside you two- retorted the grumpy doctor.

The old man got angry when Seventeen and Eighteen wrecked his laboratory that way:

-If you don't stop I will disable you! Remember that you are still in trial...your entire life depends on how you behave.-

But they did not listen and went on playing: what should he expect, after all?

Teenage cyborgs or teenage humans, he was always dealing with teenagers; moreover, their past was far from peaceful.

Every now and then the doctor put them to sleep in special pods: their enhanced systems and state-of-the-art mechanics worked well together, even if the twins were a little too lively. In the end, they had to burn all that eternal energy!

They also seemed too _aware_ to him. The most important thing, however, was that they did not remember anything related to their life as humans: Gero's greatest fear was emotional memories resurfacing in their mind, other kinds of memories had little importance.

-How come that there are no clothes in this place?- Eighteen snorted in annoyance: it must have been a legacy, exactly as for Seventeen who complained, saying that he wanted to drive his car.

_Correct in the mind: too vivid human reminiscences_ the scientist noted down.

One day it happened that the doctor was away from the laboratory. The twins were alone, in company of other sleeping creations and of the constant buzz from computers and machinery.

As usual, they started poking their noses everywhere. Seventeen found a metal sheet, balled it up and started playing with it as if it were a football:

-Unbelievable, I could have never done this before.-

He played like a child, kicking the metal ball high and stopping it with his chest.

Eighteen looked at him distractedly, but listening to him she had a small gasp:

-Before? When? What do you mean?-

-Before- the boy shrugged casually -I don't know: just _before_.-

Eighteen jumped on top of a giant computer and sat, thoughtfully.

-What's up? What's this noise?- her brother jumped on the top of the computer and sat down beside her -all this rumbling, it bothers me.-

Which noise? Eighteen listened and noticed that it came from within her.

_Boom boom boom._

She touched her left breast and felt the beat of her heart, now going faster because of the agitation she felt. Could it be true?

"_Is my heart beating?"_

She stood with a hand over her heart for a little longer, then touched Seventeen's chest and felt the blood flow through his veins.

-Oh yes! Your heart is beating too. Is it normal? We are artificial beings.-

She then shook her head, visibly upset: -Something is not right: I realised it these days.-

-Are you unwell? Is the doctor bothering you?- Seventeen frowned unconsciously at his sister's words.

-Come on- laughed the female cyborg -the doctor has nothing to do with it! It is as if both you and I were in some kind of limbo. Do you get it?-

-I don't, be clearer: what's wrong?-

-I feel there's something I must remember because it's paramount, but I don't know what it is: like a dream.-

For the first time since she remembered, Eighteen's eyes were sad. It seemed that she had lost something very important, and sensed that she couldn't explain.

-I know one thing: we are twins.-

-Well I know that too! But there's more. I just feel stunned.-

With a disconsolate sigh, the girl took her knees in her arms and leaned her forehead against them.

-If anything comes to mind I'll tell you- her brother assured her, with sincere optimism.

As the days passed Dr. Gero carefully observed the two cyborgs, taking notes in the event that he need to do further important modifications. He preferred to avoid it, cutting those people open one more time would have been inconvenient and dangerous: he was still dealing with living organisms, he could not modify them to his liking as he was used to do with his androids.

He had been able to enhance their skin, making it smooth and unscratchable; he had made their teeth and bones unbreakable, countless times more resistant than the material simple humans used to build their shuttles; he had erased their memory and provide them with his data.

But he was not all-powerful: he couldn't rip the organs out of them, let alone the memories that the most secret part of their mind still withheld.

He couldn't really wipe out their true selves; it was the risk he had taken, that it was.

And then they were not quiet and obedient, far from it. They always interrupted him, breaking in while he was working and turning the lab upside down.

-I wanna listen to music! I'm getting bored.-

-Isn't it better for you to go to sleep, n. 17?- Gero replied once, annoyed.

-I'm not sleepy. Eighteen and I want some music!-

-Okay okay! You will have music!- the doctor moved to another section of the laboratory and turned on a computer.

The boy grinned: -Can I tell you something, Dr. Gero? You are a pain in the ass.-

-And you're a brat- grunted the old man -you and she should be more respectful.-

Seventeen rolled his eyes and sighed, nervously tapping his foot on the ground: -Our music?-

-You were _this_ close. A little more and he would have started screaming!-

As soon as the doctor returned to his experiments, Eighteen could no longer hold back a laugh.

-I made him turn on the music.-

-Yes, yes, thank you little brother.-

It was really fun to get on the doctor's nerves.

-I'm still in the mood: if he bothers us, I will suppress him.-

Seventeen expressed his will to murder Gero as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

His sister was dancing to the music, but stopped abruptly and ran to squeeze his shoulders:

-Come again? What did you say?-

Seventeen's eyes widened as he declared his intentions again: -I suppress him, kill him, obliterate him. I'll do something!-

She trembled, taking his wrists:

-I remember- her eyes glittered with anxiety and frenzy -I remember, you used to say it _before_! I don't remember why, but I recall your words.-

-You do?-

-Oh yeah! You told me _if he touches you, he's dead_ but I don't remember who we were talking about. And you also made me buy a knife, you carried a gun. God! It feels like a lifetime ago.-

Seventeen's gaze lit up:

-My gun! You're right- he turned on his right side and found it in a holster instead of in his pocket. -Here, you mean this gun?-

He showed it to Eighteen, who scrutinised it carefully.

-I don't remember exactly if it was this one specifically, but I know why you carry it.-

-And I had completely forgotten about it!- he spread his arms and put a hand on his forehead -thank you, Lazuli, for reminding me.-

This time the girl was visibly shaken: -Lazuli?-

Seventeen bit his tongue: -Oh, I'm sorry. I meant Eighteen.-

She felt a storm raging inside her. Something was about to explode, something that had been wrongfully hidden from her.

She turned to her brother slowly, almost lacking the strength to articulate: -... Lapis?-

Her lips felt dry and her heart wrenched: -Lapis, it's you! I remember.-

Affinities inaccessible to others have always united them.

The siblings felt thankful for their bond, upon rewatching in their mind a sequence of moments of daily life they had lived and known, only recently forgotten.

The music pounded away at their ears and when a disco song echoed from the speaker, the limbo mood was blown away.

-This song! This song played at the rave, that night! While I was out smoking and waiting for you, to go home.-

-Shush, don't let him hear you- Lapis warned softly -it's true, everything is coming back to me. Do you remember when we made the blood pact? The tribal rite! You didn't like it.-

Lazuli strove to keep her gasping breath in check:

-And do you remember when you never wore a helmet because you said it flattened your gelled mohawk? We were young...-

Lapis nodded and looked at her earnestly: -A few years ago there was someone stalking us, do you remember? That's why I started carrying the gun.-

She frowned and thought about it: yes, an old man who followed her, who followed them. An old man with a beard and a moustache.

-... an old man with loony eyes?-

Then she held her breath when the pieces of that jigsaw puzzle finally came together.

She grabbed Lapis violently and shook him clenching his shirt, which soon tore under her grasp: -IT'S HIM! IT'S DOCTOR GERO!-

Without the beard now, it was he who had followed them, kidnapped them and replaced their real name with a number.

Lapis kept his head down and his fists clenched. Sucking air in through his teeth, he slammed his fist through a desk, tearing it into pieces: -That bastard.-

He stepped on the remains of the desk, laughing nervously: -That bloody bastard. It's he who changed us, that's why we no longer remember anything. That's why we're cyborgs now.-

Lazuli nodded: -I know. And we must eliminate his enemy. That's why he created us.-

If he had restructured them from head to toe, he must have cut their skin and rummaged through their insides, perhaps removed some organs to replace them with circuits; he must also have seen them naked while they lay stunned.

-He didn't create us- the male twin hissed, upset, trying not to raise his voice -we already existed, he changed us to make us do what he wants. I really don't wanna think about what he did to change us, it makes me puke.-

-Well, go think a few yards away from me- with a snicker, Lazuli pointed at a spot on the other side of the room.

The twins sat on the ground, silent, musing on the absurdity they had discovered. So that was it, Dr. Gero had taken them from their normal life to tear them apart and then rebuild them. Moreover, he must have done something in their head, so that they already knew what they had to do, recognised him as a father and obeyed his commands. Having to kill Son Goku sounded natural, it was simply something that needed to be done.

Death was not a taboo, a sacred threshold not to be crossed, Lazuli felt her new eternal energy seethe, she had suddenly become anxious to kill:

-I can't forgive him: we absolutely must do something.-

The boy nodded: -I know, sis; all in good time.-

They had to be cautious, the doctor had already told them he could turn them off as he liked.

Lapis's eyes went darker: -He took our identity and our memories from us. I remember almost nothing about myself, but if he didn't create us, it means that we were born.-

Lazuli sighed in dismay: -It's not to him that we owe our life, of course, but neither can I remember to whom we should be truly grateful.-

-A woman- he lingered, a thumb between his lips -our mother. And also a real father.-

The girl felt anger stirring again: -But do we have them? It's all so confusing.-

-Lapis and Lazuli; these are our names, aren't they?- he suddenly became anxious.

-How could you remember?-

Lapis looked at her and shook his head: he couldn't have answered that question, it had come so naturally.

At least there was something Gero hadn't taken away from them.

They had to protect the last few memories he had left to them, protect them at any cost.

They had to wait for the moment when they would do justice. With that new strength it would have been child's play.

Lapis patted his sister lovingly and smiled at her to lift her spirits:

-That night, we ended up in a field with the car and we wanted to get it out, but we didn't make it: now we could lift it with one hand.-

-So in the end we aren't dead, are we? And we're always human, we haven't become robots- she asked.

-We have a heart and blood, no, we are not dead! And we are half human, half machine.-

At that stage of their life, what really counted -more than the composition of their body- was that they didn't forget about the vital information they had just remembered: they were convinced that if he knew, the doctor would do anything to erase those last fragments of authentic memory. After getting rid of Dr. Gero, what would they do? They had to kill that Son Goku, but also find a way to go back to their normal life.

-Our names, scattered memories of when we were younger... we mustn't forget them for the world, Lazuli.-

Doctor Gero was having the doubt that the cyborgs still held on to some memories: the male had once said that he would have liked to see his car, _his car_! He remembered.

The doctor had been watching them much more carefully since he realised they were frequently chatting and whispering; in addition, in recent times, they were having fun spiting him in a thousand ways.

-Do you think we can still eat?- Lapis once asked his sister.

-And here are your real worries, cars and food. I don't see why not, but I think we can do without it: I'm never hungry and I'm feeling great.-

He frowned and looked at a bag of crisps he had stolen from a drawer, somewhere in the laboratory: -I want to see what happens if I eat these.-

He put a handful of crisps in his mouth and swallowed it, under Lazuli's questioning gaze.

-So?-

-Nothing. Ah no, look, my fingers turned orange.-

Lapis wiped his hand on his pants and earned a disgusted look from his sister.

-Why does that old fart always give us those nauseating brews? Man, I'm sick of them.-

-I have no idea, bro. Maybe because they take him less time to prepare.-

It was that way that the perfect pretext to give the doctor a big load of unnecessary work came to their mind; their diet only consisted in concoctions of salts, trace elements and other essential substances, given that -according to Gero's calculations- they didn't need to feed, but only to hydrate to avoid making their reactor overheat and malfunction.

Out of the blue, the twins categorically refused to drink these concoctions.

-It gives me a headache- he complained.

-It makes me feel tired- she whimpered.

So the doctor invented different formulas, but each of them had something wrong; the cyborgs even dared to ask for solid food.

The doctor had to go down to the nearest town and back to the laboratory thinking he would satisfy n. 17 and n. 18, who stuffed themselves on human food and then were sick. Everytime this happened they blamed him, accusing him of wanting to ruin their bodies; they were obviously well and didn't have the slightest problem with both human food and special drinks; if nothing they could eat even more without the risk of having an upset stomach, it was a side-effect of their enhanced systems working faster; they were only pretending with the sole purpose of driving the doctor crazy.

_Fix digestive system: they no longer tolerate the special mixtures I prepare for them, I must have done something wrong,_ wrote down the doctor.

But it seemed odd to him, so he ran some tests that gave him the results he expected.

In addition to this, the twins enjoyed turning all the machinery off and on and breaking his equipment.

Having installed chips in their brains that also contained information on the art of combat and the use of their new artificial _ki_, sometimes Gero tested their limits and made them fight, carefully writing down the details of their performances: the male was stronger, but the female was more violent. Together, they were dynamite.

They pretended not to be able to aim their _ki blasts_ and often destroyed very important equipment.

Often they complained about not feeling like fighting each other, saying that they would rather sleep, but when it was time to rest in their pods they magically recovered and were so well that they began to torture Gero again with music, games or other nonsense.

C_orrect in the mind: too little involved in the mission, spiteful, rebellious._

By now the doctor was firmly convinced that he had to deactivate them to make the necessary changes: he had collected enough data with that beta session, after all the time to kill his enemy had not yet come and the cyborgs had to be fixed.

It happened one day, while they were sitting chatting, secretly leafing through the doctor's notes and talking, while eating candy.

-Shouldn't we keep a lower profile? If we continue like this, he will get angry and leave us inert.- suggested the worried Lazuli.

-But it's fun!- Lapis laughed -we are driving him crazy.-

The girl was staring into a mirror, looking at herself from a few different angles: -I'm glad we remembered our names, but I really have to say it, they are so stupid and vulgar. _Lazuli_, doesn't it sound like an escort name?-

-I'm fine with mine- Lapis shrugged with indifference, while fiddling with a small yellow plastic bag.

-Although, look at me:I'm a total knockout. Making people pay to undress me and finding my sheets full of money doesn't sound so bad.-

-Don't you dare...-

-Oh yeah baby, I'd be rich! What would be wrong with it, is it because I'm female? I wouldn't give it away, I'd just let them take a distant peek at it...-

Lapis tried to remove from his mind the images of his naked sister sitting on some guy's lap, which she had just evoked. Not that he had never seen her in a bikini, but the thought disturbed him anyway.

-Look at here. What does this mean?- he showed her a strange engraving on the large buckle of his wristwatch. He knew it was his, just like the gun and the shoes.

-_To L. from C._; L. I know I'm _L._, who's _C._ instead?-

His sister's bewildered gaze made him realise once again the crime that the doctor had committed against them.

-If it were the last thing I do, should he make me sleep for a century, I will kill him, we will make him pay. You remember this.- he said sharply.

The annoying creaking of the plastic attracted Lazuli's attention. She snatched the small bag from her brother's hands.

-What are you doing? I took it because I thought it was candy, but it's just paper, or cloth, I don't understand. There's a drawer full of them in the room with all our things.-

The girl felt uncomfortable, suddenly recognizing the yellow bag. Without needing to open it she put it in her pocket, then headed briskly towards the forementioned room.

She opened a wardrobe and found white coats and hospital gowns, rags, disposable mats, cotton buds and other toiletries.

And the yellow little bags. A full drawer, that was it.

They weren't stacked in boxes, those boxes that Lazuli had remembered taking from the supermarket shelf every month in another life; they were stored loosely, ready to use.

"_Oh fuck, no!"_

She felt a ball of nerves at the pit of her stomach, she wanted to spit it out but just sat on the floor, dismayed.

-Lazuli? Do you feel ok?-

Lapis saw her look at the drawer full of "candy", and then unknowingly at herself.

Lazuli was much more than disgusted.

As she had just said, she was female.

The absolute surprise she had felt learning that _being female_ had unabashedly kept on happening during all that time, despite the conversion into cyborg had lasted for nothing, being soon supplanted by a visceral repulsion: all the time between the kidnapping and the awakening, when she had been unconscious, the doctor had not left her in her own blood, there on the operating table.

He had used the contents of those bags.

Lapis's lips and eyebrows curled in the opposite direction as he crouched beside his sister, looking at her horrified expression, which was slowly turning into a fierce gaze.

Without speaking she got up, and Lapis realised that she was going to the doctor; he put his arm in front of her, demanding explanations.

When Lazuli revealed what she had just discovered, Lapis also felt inflamed by the same primal disgust.

The fact that the brute had touched his sister's soft body with his rough fingers was enough to motivate him, even more than revenge.

-Let me take care of it, Lapis.-

Lapis thought he saw a quiver crossing his sister's lips. He put a hand on her shoulder, nodding. Together they walked towards the doctor's desk, approaching him with a firm and proud step. He he did not turn around.

Then they saw him extend his arm -a black rectangular device in his hand- before darkness closed again on them.

/

_"Doesn't that cloud look like a fat man?"_

_"It looks like a mountain to me."_

_Carly was lying on her side on the fragrant grass, looking at the clouds and smiling dreamily as she stroked the silky hair of her first love:_

_"What do you like most about me? Tell me again."_

_"Everything. But to answer your question, that you are very sexy but you don't do it on purpose. And you, what do you prefer?"_

_"If I must choose, then I go for your colours and your smile."_

_"Come on! Not that."_

_Lapis had closed his mouth and had involuntarily probed one of his canines with the tip of his tongue: "I would like to have my teeth fixed, my mother gave me permission; but the dentist says I just have to leave it alone. "_

_"Exactly, leave it alone!" Carly looked at him tenderly "it's part of you."_

_He did not understand why Lapis was so obsessed with such a little imperfection, it wasn't even a medical problem. She loved those little details of him._

_He had made a face: "My sister makes fun of me, sometimes."_

_"Then she's just bad, maybe she thinks she looks perfect... Wait, you've got a sister? What class is she in? "_

_"Yup. Same class as me."_

A long time had passed, about two years theoretically, but it felt like a century.

Lately she was often having tender and innocent memories of the first days of their romance.

But by now Carly feared that sooner or later she would lose everything she remembered. Over the months, even the sensations would have stopped being a vivid memory: for time is the ultimate winner.

All she could do was bask in the huge void she felt inside her heart; it was like an abyss that sucked her down, stronger than her.

She knew there was nothing more depressing than crying over spilt milk.

If only she had given a chance to at least one of the boys who had come forward in all that time, she would have had someone by her side, for company: but was it really worth it? She couldn't bring herself to see other people.

The mere thought repelled her; in her mind there was always him, a thought that never abandoned her.

How could she find any other man attractive, interesting, after having been with Lapis?

It had been love at first sight.

She missed him terribly; she missed the feeling of his arms around her hips, she missed his kisses on her neck, he nibbling her soft flesh. There was nothing of him that she didn't miss, she _needed_ him.

Carly remembered the vicious, envious looks her girlfriends had given her the day she had introduced Lapis to them. It made her smile.

She wondered if he still missed her when the nights turned cold and long, or if he had found someone else to hold in his arms.

By now, Carly was about to turn twenty one.

She had come across a photograph: ironically, it showed what she didn't want to see.

It was an underwater photo.

She remembered when she and Lapis had decided to spend a couple of weeks at the beach to celebrate their first year together. She remembered everything, even the car trip with the sun in their face and luggage rolling around on the back seat. Fortunately, no one had stopped them to ask for his licence, which he still did not have.

Those had been wonderful days when she had finally understood that waiting for sixteen years had been worth it: how many times she had sighed, considering her girlfriends lucky even if their boyfriends were ugly, stupid or ignorant.

She remembered the girl with the underwater camera: _"Take a picture of us!"_

She and Lapis had dived into the sea, their kiss had been long and sweet.

Carly caressed the photograph, observing it in every detail: the white sand of the seabed, the green water around their embraced bodies, theirfloating hair mixing in the light refracted from the surface of the water; his flowered costume, her pink bikini, the little air bubbles between their lips.

Carly held the photo to her heart:

-Oh, my love...-

She had lost hope: Kate and the detectives had been looking for the twins for two years.

She constantly told herself that she had to be strong and that she mustn't let despair sneak its way into her heart. She had to do it at least for Kate, who never lost hope that one day she would find them.

How she managed to be _that_ strong, Carly did not know: she saw that Kate was crushed, everyone coud see it, but she never gave up.

She had even launched an appeal on television, only to get compliments for her looks and tenacity.

Kate could not stand compliments; she kept saying she had failed her children, that a dog would be a better mother than she was, that it was all her fault.

How not to understand her? Although Kate was an extraordinary woman in Carly's eyes.

Just seeing her, however, crushed her heart with nostalgia; she looked too much like her son. His chiseled features, the eyes that had won over Carly's heart and the delicate black hair in which she had liked so much to lay kisses were Kate's legacy.

But after all, what fault did Kate have?

_"I would have expected just about everything, that he would dump me, that he would get tired: but that he would die, no, I've never even wanted to think about it."_

Carly didn't want to believe that Lapis was dead, but it was an increasingly destructive thought in her afflicted heart.

She could not escape from him.

She remembered the nights when they went dancing, jumping and laughing until they were all sweaty, and then stayed heart to heart in long hugs. How many times had she made mental films, running into the future: every time he held her hand or kissed her she already saw their home, she saw herself the mother of his children.

He always said that she was the embodiment of tenderness.

Carly would have given the world to feel Lapis's soft mouth on hers once again; to still feel him thrusting inside her.

He had been the only one.

She longed for how he stroked her before burying himself into her with his rough gentleness, for how sometimes he fell asleep, exhausted, with his head on her lap. Then when he woke up they had a snack together; she didn't want to reach for the moon, the two of them enjoyed the little things.

Her mind had adapted strangely to that trauma and depression: she had a real orgasm every time she remembered those so intimate moments with him.

She loved it even when they went for car rides that were worse than a ride, and on the way back they sat watching the sunset; Carly had lost count of all the sweets and junk food they had eaten, sitting on the roof of Lapis's car.

_"Thank goodness you eat"_ he said, with his mouth always full.

_"Why? Who is it that doesn't eat? "_

_"Lazuli."_

He became sad when he talked about it. Carly's eyes widened, what was wrong with her? That girl was tall and slender, with a strong and firm body; Carly, if anything, shorter and with a hourglass-shaped body, would have had more to worry, being a worse match for what society considered beautiful, instead of listening to Lapis who stuffed her like a goose, not calculating in the least that Carly had put on weight by dint of eating like he did.

But the truth was that she didn't care: she was with her dream guy, who loved her as she was, did a few more kilos really matter? Lapis didn't seem to mind at all.

_"She hardly eats anything, even when our mother brings home the things we like."_

_"But you don't have to worry, love, maybe she just doesn't feel like it."_

He raised his head and smiled: _"I don't worry: there's more for me."_

Carly had always liked that he never made her feel inferior to his twin sister, even though the bond he shared with Lazuli was undoubtedly much stronger that the one he had with her.

He had never burdened her with it.

What would she have given to touch him, to talk to him, to tell him how much she loved him? Memories were all she had, she had to try not to lose Lapis there too.

Carly remembered how much she liked to run her fingers along his jawline, his shoulders and his adam apple.

_"Why did fate bring us together?"_ Carly said to herself on the darkest days, when she wondered about deep things. But then she shook her head and rejected that thought, so futile and banal, a catch phrase that only sounded good in teen fiction.

She mustn't fall into that vicious circle and allow herself to forget the value of those moments spent with him.

Goodness knows what happened to him, if he had thought about her before dying? Carly no longer wondered if he was thinking about her in the present. How many expectations she had had, now it was all over.

In her best dreams she imagined him in the arms of a beautiful angel, not hers; then she woke up and cried.

She wasn't Kate: she had the right not to be strong.


	5. Unforgettable

_5\. Unforgettable_

Doctor Gero would not have wanted to do it: it was risky for himself, in the first place.

But glancing at the door of his laboratory, then at his arm, from which a hand had been torn off, letting the dripping cables dangle, he made up his mind: they were his last chance.

Vegeta, Piccolo and the other friends of Son Goku had become stronger than he had expected; however, no one was strong enough to match his two winning cards.

Gero did not want his opponents to take over and corner him again, yet he was still uncertain: despite making all the necessary changes, activating models 17 and 18 again was a considerable danger.

Three years had passed since the kidnapping, his micro cameras had constantly kept an eye on the people from law enforcement and on the mother of the twins; what a knucklehead, that one. Hadn't she given up yet? Little did it matter, Gero's will was about to be fulfilled, nobody could have found the twins and soon their mother too would have been dispatched to the other world, together with the whole of humankind.

_"I wish I'd never come to this, but now here I am, over the barrel."_ the old man was holding the emergency controller and was standing between the two sealed pods _"I just hope I have fixed them properly."_

He was finally sure of his choice; no, he was doctor fended the fear off and proceeded to open one of the pods.

For him it was a déjà-vu when the first of the two cyborgs set foot on the lab's floor, looking at him with indolent gaze.

-Good morning, n.17.-

The boy looked unfazed. He turned around and gave Gero the ghost of a smile:

-Good morning, Dr. Gero.-

-How wonderful, you greeted me!-

-I obviously respect my father.-

The doctor clutched the emergency controller and noted with relief that the boy's gaze was alert, but not too much.

_"It looks like I accomplished something here."_

-All right, number eighteen then.-

The doctor opened the second pod and the girl also took a step forward.

-Good morning doctor!- her voice was clear and ringing -I see that you have become a cyborg too.-

The old man glanced at the cables that hung down from one of his wrists: of course, he too wanted a long life and an enhanced body.

The twins seemed to be fine:

-Actually, when I activated you for the first time to test you I realised that I had invested too much on your infinite energy cores, so it was very difficult to keep you in check, you never obeyed... but now you can start working right away: our enemies are looking for us and soon they will be here. You must kill them all, don't spare anyone, no loose ends. Is that clear?-

-Yes, sir!- Eighteen trilled.

-Copy that.- echoed Seventeen.

Suddenly there was a deaf rumble, while dust and plaster fragments began to fall from the walls and the ceiling.

-Here they are, it's them! Wreck them!-

The doctor was ecstatic: his dream was eventually coming true, finally fate played by his side, finally the cyborgs were ready, perfect, ferocious, at his complete disposal.

-It's our moment! It's time to exterminate.-

In the triumph of his glory, the doctor had not noticed the shadow that, silent and deadly like a predator, had moved behind him in the blink of an eye; and he still did not notice that the stealthy hunter had slipped the controller from his hand:

-N. 17! What are you doing?!-

-What is this?- the boy turned the little box over in his hands, exchanging signs of understanding with his sister -the remote control to stop us in critical situations...what is it, are you afraid of us?-

His voice became sharp and dismissive, his eyes also changed: they were alert, cold and calm.

The doctor backed away, perhaps realising what he had done; and he had no time to react, the boy lightly tightened his grip and crushed the controller. The knocks on the door increased in intensity.

-Hey hey hey! What are you doing? Did you pop a fuse?- Gero shouted at him -you must do as I say, your enemies are out there!-

-We are fed up with sleeping, you asshole.-

Outside the laboratory, the group of "enemies" waited, pounding on the door that did not budge.

The twins and Gero heard a voice full of anger just on the other side of the door:

-I am the only one who can settle this sorry matter. You all would be better off away from here.-

Immediately after, the door began to bend and twist under the pressure of a powerful ki blast, until it fell to the ground, unhinged, with a hellish creaking.

The enemies were dazed to find Dr. Gero in the company of two youths of remarkable beauty, a boy wearing an orange scarf and a girl in miniskirt; they probably didn't reach the age of twenty.

-Don't be fooled just because they look harmless. These two are the beasts I warned you about.- said through gritted teeth a light-haired boy carrying a great sword.

-You must not underestimate our enemies- the doctor strove to control himself and to maintain a calm voice tone -it is they who gave me a lot of trouble and who defeated n. 19.-

Seventeen turned around, widening his cold eyes: -Ah, there was Nineteen too? What was he like? Like us?-

No. He was a real android.

Eighteen stepped forward, smiling maliciously:

-And how come you didn't make him like us, since you can? Were you afraid not to be able to control it? Okay, too bad that if you want to win you need us.-

The twins did not deign a glance at the group of fighters outside the laboratory, whose eyes -all their eyes- stared with amazement and dismay at Dr. Gero clenching his fist and yelling at them, who didn't stop asking uncomfortable questions and were already starting to snoop everywhere, who didn't seem to calculate his orders.

Seventeen struggled to bear with the doctor's voice.

And with his face.

And with him being alive, too.

-How about you shut up? We fight when we feel like it.-

What did he say! The doctor was appalled: if only he still had the remote control...Eighteen chuckled and stepped on the twisted remains of the remote control, heading for another sealed pod.

When the old man pounced on her and grabbed her by the arm, ordering to step away, the cyborg girl looked at him with contempt and threw him to the ground with a wave of her elbow. How did he dare putting his hands on a young lady?

The doctor clenched his fists tighter, trying to keep frustration at bay. He tried hard not to let those two _things_ he had just awakened smell his fear:

-Just try to disobey me. It will be eternal sleep, this time. Sleep and possibly disposal.-

Seventeen watched the scene with amusement, without calculating the elderly doctor: -Come on, sis, pop that pod.-

-N. 18, what are you doing? Are you deaf?-

The moment the girl pushed the button Gero yelled, heading towards her, but he couldn't finish talking: a gasp cut his breath, the tiny veins in his eyes burst. Pain and horror twisted his face in an animal grimace. He looked at the left side of his chest and saw a hand coming out through his thorax; he didn't need to turn around and see what happened, but he did and met n. 17's indifferent face, and his calm eyes.

The doctor's enemies watched, unable to say a word.

From the beginning, from the first moment he had converted them, he had feared this moment. He himself had endowed them with superhuman and terrible strength. And now? He had had their wrath coming, now they were playing with their prey.

They must be furious, and he knew why: he had thought he had succeeded in erasing even the most hidden parts of their memory; because he knew that before he deactivated them they were talking about him, they were remembering, they were becoming aware of the monstrosity they had undergone.

Now he had what he wanted, two inhuman and bloodthirsty warriors.

Thirsty of the wrong blood; the doctor was already dead.

Seventeen pulled his arm out flatly and stood behind the doctor, putting his hands in his pockets.

-You are mine; you are my creation; obey me!-

That was the last thing he could say, before the cyborg gave a light kick and his head was cut off sharply, rolling on the floor with a metallic clang.

The group of _enemies_ could not hold back groans of indignation, while the head of what they thought was the enemy still rolled towards them. Only one said something, attracting Eighteen's amused gaze on himself.

And as the head was still chattering, n. 17 took a jump and stomped on it with all his weight, while a puddle of dark liquid spread on the steel floor.

Had old Gero really hoped that he would have been able to completely erase the memory of the two young cyborgs?

He was so mistaken: they remembered very well that the first thing they had to do, as soon as the doctor deigned to wake them up, was getting rid of him.

Stepping out of the pod, Seventeen had discreetly eyed the remote control, then his twin sister: that was enough, they had remembered their agreement.

They had remembered everything they had promised to each other, just in time before being deactivated and their brains further modified; on the other hand, they could never forget that he was the monster who had captured them, turned them into machines and robbed them of memories that they had now lost forever. He had to pay with his life.

It had been enough to pretend to be good and obedient enough to win him over; the twins had never liked playing the lobotomised, but it was for a good cause.

-And so it's done; bloody bastard.- Seventeen spat on the remains of the doctor, disgusted.

-Real smooth- Eighteen commented tartly -but I remember I should have done it. You stole my only chance to kill him off.-

Her brother exhaled: -What difference does it make? You, me, we're on the same side.-

Eighteen puckered her lips, annoyed by her inability to remember why she wanted to take Gero out with her own hands. Even if her brother was on her the two of them were still discussing, the boy with the sword did not sit back and watch another rising of the machines. The only real expert on the strength of the two cyborgs, he was the one who made the most sensible move, from the group's point of view: eliminate them.

He put all his power into an incandescent wave of energy, which in a flash struck the secret laboratory of the late Dr. Gero, causing an explosion that gutted the mountain.

-... We killed him, or rather _I_ killed him because he annoyed us and because he turned us into cyborgs: before we were human, Eighteen, don't you remember?-

To avoid the explosion, the twins had settled on a small plateau not far away. They were not sure that what their enhanced eyes showed them was dismay, painted on the faces of the group that attacked them; but it would have been a lot of fun if it had been exactly like this.

Eighteen threw on the ground that pod they had not yet managed to open, in the midst of all that confusion:

-There's nothing else, isn't there?-

What else could there be? Those were good reasons.

-Sure, Seventeen? Nothing at all?-

-Nothing at all.-

Theoretically, at that point, the cyborgs should have started the work of destruction for which they had been activated by the doctor, but in reality they had no interest in it: it was not fun and above all, it would have meant carrying out the orders.

-No fucking way- chuckled Seventeen -we cyborgs also need a goal in life. We can use the doctor's enemies to play.-

Eighteen was very curious about the occupant of that pod:

-Let's start by opening this box: it says 16, let's see who it is.-

They would have fished out that little group, one way or another. Now they were too busy.

At Eighteen's touch, the pod began to open again; she uncovered it with a kick.

A huge android with the looks of a man with bright red hair and sharp features, n.16 rose and began to scrutinise the environment around him; when Seventeen greeted him he did not reply, limiting himself to a coy smile.

The boy complained to his sister that their new friend did not speak a word: the only thing he deigned to inform them of, was that he too had been created with the sole purpose of eliminating Son Goku.

The synergy between their goals amused Seventeen:

-Okay then, we'll start looking for him; but let's go by car, it's more fun!-

-And where do we get a car?-

-Duh, we steal one.-

Eighteen snorted; how childish her brother was, if they had flown they would have found Son Goku immediately. But no instead, they had to go by car; she always hated them, they were so stupid and useless.

-I see you haven't changed, even as a human you had the same fixation.-

The boy let out a moan:

-Hear who's talking; I'm still waiting for you to ask me to go buy clothes; because I know that you will ask me, it is only a matter of time.-

Eighteen bit the bullet. It was true, she really wanted to ask him to stop in the nearest city. That was a very nice outfit, but the doctor had picked it; he was guilty and disgusting, he had dared to make decisions for her.

The two twin cyborgs, followed by Sixteen, soon found a van to go shopping with.

Eighteen had stepped into a boutique and forced herself to steal clothes she didn't like; that was it, in her opinion, one couldn't hope to find anything better in there.

The cops had arrived soon, promptly called by the owners of the van and of the clothes the two youths had taken away.

-Will you stop resisting?- the sheriff shouted when Sixteen freed himself from the handcuffs they had put on him.

Their annoyance aroused a mocking laugh from Eighteen who, parading gracefully in front of the officers, with handcuffed wrists lifted one of their cars to toss it away. The car crashed into one of the snow-covered cliffs that flanked the road, leaving the police astonished while both she and Seventeen tore the handcuffs to pieces and, getting back on the van, resumed their journey as if nothing had happened.

-Tell me Sixteen, you were a human too before, weren't you?- Seventeen asked the new friend as soon as the shocked agents were left behind.

-No. I was built from scratch.- the android replied, still with that kind smile.

The cyborgs were quite nice to Sixteen; they were hot-headed and even a little arrogant, they thought they could do everything themselves. But they were very young, he thought, all that fire was acceptable at that age.

For how long hadn't they seen a night!

Moreover, it was the first night after the liberation from the doctor: he was now dead, there was nothing that could upset the happiness of the twins, they were as free as two eagles.

The place where they stopped with the van was of a dreamlike beauty, even their indifferent eyes noticed it. The road sloped at the sides and a steep expanse of silvery grass led to the sparkling water ribbon that ran at the bottom of the gentle slope.

The mountain air was dry, crisp and invigorating; it entered the lungs intoxicating them, leaving behind a subtle note of virgin nature.

-It smells of pine trees... and of ice, of animals; and of raspberry pie.-

-Raspberry pie? From where can you smell it?- Eighteen leaned out of the window beside Seventeen, sniffing the air. She could smell a pleasant trail of trees, fire and warmth from living things.

-From there- he pointed his finger in front of himself, towards the dark infinity that extended before their eyes -there! There could be houses, indeed there are if you look carefully. It comes from there.-

Seventeen took a deep breath, pleasantly surprised that he could use his sense of smell and that his mouth watering was the natural neurological response he had to that stimulus. It seemed that they always had their human senses, only improved and augmented.

The girl looked a little better and saw in the distance a group of few perched houses, probably at least ten kilometres away as the crow flies.

-You don't need to eat- she stretched her ear towards him -what's this noise, is it your circuits?-

Seventeen, who was boredly tormenting a long strand of dark hair, looked up abruptly: -No, my tummy. Shall we go?-

He smiled, sly and amused.

-Eating and driving, driving and eating, that's all the content of your chips. Always the same. You are a useless cyborg. - Eighteen told him exasperated, but her brother did not listen to her and took her hand, forcing her to levitate with him.

-Come on, it won't cost you anything, let's fly! Then we come back here.-

-Number Sixteen, watch the van!- the girl screamed before her brother dragged her away.

The android smiled and stretched out comfortably on the roof of the van, happily enjoying the night and the silence.

The window was slightly open behind the iron grill. The house was calm and asleep, the curtains waved in the dark. Anyone who had gone down to the kitchen and approached the window would have met two pretty faces peeking out with ice-coloured eyes.

But nobody was up at that hour, the tap did not even drip, the table was set for the next morning, a plate containing a splendid and fragrant fruit tart stood in the middle.

-There it is! See, I told you.-

-I'm not going in, I'll wait for you here- Eighteen didn't move a muscle.

-Do whatever you want- he replied without glancing at her -and get out of here.-

As soon as she stepped away, Seventeen put his hands on the grill, pulled it from the wall and threw it on the ground.

With the agility of a cat he entered the window, took the booty and left.

-What a baby you are! We came here to steal a dessert, do you realize? The two of us should destroy everything giggling like two demons.- Eighteen scolded him, amused.

-I know, but who cares! That lousy piece of metal is dead: the two of us can do whatever we want, when you understand it, tell me- he replied reluctantly, giving her a condescending pat on the head.

When they returned, Sixteen was still lying there contemplating the beauty of the silvery night: as soon as he saw them he smiled tiredly and prepared to go down, by now the fun was over and so was his peace.

The two cyborgs sat on the roadside, he devouring his pie, she thinking while watching the stream.

Eighteen took some water in the palm of her hand and put it in her mouth. She liked the cool sensation she felt spreading through her chest and continued to drink until she was satisfied.

-You know, I remember a night like this- she sighed at some point, brushing her bobbed hair -long ago, when we were still human.-

The girl exhaled again, looking up to the sky and feeling a sudden sadness freeze her heart.

-Take some, don't let me eat it all- Seventeen smiled at her, offering her what was left of the raspberry pie -just a bite will lift you up; guaranteed.-

If only all her worried could be gone with a little sugar...The blonde shook her head, then looked at the steep expanse of silver grass swaying in the wind. On impulse she grabbed Seventeen by the shirt, dragging him down.

They laughed like two children as they rolled at full speed towards the stream, regardless of the damp grass that soiled them and of the stones they could not feel under their back.

They were still laughing out loud when the race stopped leaving them belly-up, close to each other hold, their hair soaked with dew and some traces of mud on their cheeks, nose or forehead.

-When did you have both ears pierced?-

Eighteen was sure that her brother had never worn hoop earrings before.

He winced, feeling his lobes; he had had one ear pierced, but he didn't remember about the other: -It must have been that asshole.-

He dragged himself face down to the stream, then dipped a finger into it and began to draw imaginary circles; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the coolness that rose from the water flow into his lungs: -You're right, I also remember one night like this: we were ten years old, give or take, and it was the time we made the blood covenant.-

-The blood what?- Eighteen leaned on the palms of his hands and crept on her butt until she reached her brother -that tribal stuff?-

The boy gave her a bright smile: -Yes!-

-Shall we do it again? I know the first time it was I who opposed it, but now I feel the need: it feels as if were living a new life.-

Seventeen continued to play with water: -We _are_ living a new life. A rambunctious and idle life where we are not tied to anyone, because we are all alone.-

_"That's not true, we have number Sixteen."_

Eighteen did not give voice to her thoughts, because she realised very well that their new friend was just new. Part of that new life.

-Okay, let's do it again. But I don't know what we can use to cut ourselves- he pondered.

-Your gun! I'm positive even with giving ourselves a hole.-

Seventeen still remembered that he had a gun; he grabbed it and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened because the bullet bounced against his skin.

The twins stood for a moment looking at each other and then burst out in a hearty laughter again, continuing to shoot each other just for the sake of seeing the bullets bouncing, or sometimes squashing against their bodies; when they ran out of bullets they had tears in their eyes and were still holding their stomach.

-Why did we laugh so much? After all, this is not that funny...- the female twin rubbed herself in the grass. Her brother merely looked at her, trying to catch his breath; he didn't know either, they were probably happy with everything that had happened but also emotionally exhausted. It had been a liberating laugh, as if to say _fuck off Dr. Gero, we do what we want,_ _we are happy and we use our powers to steal cars, clothes and pies._

-How can we do the tribal rite again if there is nothing that can cut us?-Eighteen resumed the matter, disconsolate. Seventeen looked around for something, then shook his head: -I don't know...squash yourself against something.-

She too took a look at the surroundings. Rocks? No. Pieces of wood? Least of all.

If a gun had done nothing to them, what could they have attempted?

-I have an idea! Let's ask Sixteen.-

-Hell no, that good-for-nothing has nothing to do with it; this is our stuff, do you understand?-

Eighteen hated her brother when he was so dull: she didn't care, all that she wanted was a dent in her skin.

-So you have a better idea, boss?- she retorted, sarcastically.

-I have: our teeth.-

It was a good idea.

Seventeen looked at his reflection in the water. The memory of his insecurity resurfaced energetically from the depths of his memory.

_"Ah. I still have these" _he thought resentfully, rubbing one of his two crooked teeth with his thumb. Now he hated Gero even more, what would it cost him to fix it?

The twins managed to get a tiny wound on the hand.

-And so we redo the blood pact: you are the most important thing I have, Eighteen, I will defend you to the death.- he asserted solemnly, pressing his mouth on his sister's smiled to herself with tenderness, because of those simple yet profound words.

-You are also the most important thing I have, Seventeen. I will always look after you.-

-I think we don't have the right to have fun- said Eighteen, bluntly -we are two machines. Or are we people?-

-Why do you care?-

The girl kept on looking at the sky: was she an object or a person? What was left?

-Sometimes I feel like I'm something that has no right to do what people do. I can't understand what we are.-

-…Cyborgs, which literally means people with mechanical enhancements; number Sixteen instead is an android from head to toe. If we were like him, we wouldn't have our augmented five senses, nor our scattered memories. We already talked about it, Eighteen, don't you remember?-

-Yeah, I do. And I remember that at a certain point we had come up with a very important thing that we absolutely shouldn't forget. Something that concerned us in a very intimate way ...Seventeen- she closed her eyes and turned to him -are we twins?-

-Well yes, it's natural. Why on earth do you ask me?-

Eighteen frowned and stared intensely at him: -What do you think it means to be twins?-

The boy broke into a thunderous laugh: -I don't know! I'm not a dictionary!-

Then he explained that it meant that they had always been together, from the very beginning.

-And what is the very beginning?-

-I think since the lousy piece of tin created us...we are twins because he created us together.-

Eighteen believed that had been twins as humans too, otherwise how could she remember that her brother had always been a fan of engines? She felt that there was more to them that met the eye.

/

In the Central City district the night had just fallen when Kate heard a knock on the door.

She had just returned from her usual walk around the block. The residential suburbs was pleasant to look at, but also quite monotonous. Kate enjoyed finding the differences between the houses that, all looking alike, looked onto elegant sidewalks.

Her own house was no exception, with its classic bay window and exposed red brick.

That evening, when the sun had started to set, Kate had gone out for her walk and found the whole block waiting for were all there: the Wards with their six children, one of whom was twenty-one years old, as old as Lapis and Lazuli wouls have been. Mrs. Schroeder, from the house opposite hers, who had looked after them many times when they were little and Kate had had to run to work.

The owner of the local newsstand with his dachshund on a leash.

And others, of the street parallel to hers and from other distant neighbourhoods such as Sara, the one who had been friends with her daughter and George Der Veer, the car dealer.

His daughter Carly had sent her a card, she hadn't wanted to leave campus; the emotional weight was too hard to bear for her. It had happened that, three days earlier, the police had spotted in Orange City a girl they thought to be Lazuli.

Kate's heart had broken once again when it was ascertained that it wasn't her. But that sad episode had rekindled a flame in the hearts of the people, a flame that now shone through many candles in their hands.

If Kate felt her heart warm from such a beautiful display of affection, she cried when she threw herself on her bed.

She did not know whether out of bitterness, or because so many people had thought of them.

_"See, darlings, how many people love you? How loved you are?"_

That made her realize that if she had managed to raise her children so that those people were standing there with candles in their hands out of sheer love, perhaps she had not been such a bad mother.

When an hour later Kate heard a knock, she was about to go to bed.

Opening the door, she saw a policeman who must haven't turned thirty yet, with a simple bouquet in his hands. Kate recognized him only when she read his surname, Weiss, pinned on his chest.

-Kathryn, I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour. I wanted to come to the little vigil that your neighbors organized, but I wasn't on time. Here.-

He handed her the flowers with infinite respect, looking into her eyes with true sadness: -I heard about Lazuli, I'm so sorry. I don't even know what to say... Goodbye.-

She watched him turn around and slowly go down the steps leading to her door.

-Wait please! Come on in, Bruno.-

Bruno sipped a cup of tea, sitting in Kate's kitchen. She observed his clean uniform, his manicured nails and his short dreadlocks, which almost looked like the tight curls she remembered.

-You have come a long way, haven't you? You didn't seem very interested in this type of career when you dated my Lazuli.-

Bruno had graduated from the academy with flying colours, two years earlier. He confessed to Kate that it was Lazuli who had inspired him to take that path.

-I was twenty at that time, no future for myself in mind. When she left me, I was heartbroken; I expected that we wouldn't last long, she was young. But I was so in love, Kathryn, really. Although it must have been easy to think that I was taking advantage of her.-

Kate had actually thought so. She was sure she had inadvertently looked at the boy with grim eyes everytime he had knocked on the door to pick Lazuli up.

Goodness knows if Bruno's feelings had been hurt, everytime he had seen Kate standing in the mirror of his car and staring at him, unforgiving, with her arms crossed.

The mother realised that this must have been her daughter's first love, the man with whom she had discovered love and sex.

-When Lazuli left me, I wondered if it was because I wasn't enough for her. She acted like a hooligan, but was ambitious and intelligent. Surely I, who had dropped out of school and was spending the day doing nothing, was not enough for her.-

Bruno had revealed to Kate that he had first graduated from high school and then enrolled in the police academy. Seeing a girl like Lazuli become a criminal had inspired him not only to fight crime, but also to try to nip it in the bud. She left him because _he had stuck his nose in her business_.

-There was nothing I could do for Lazuli, not even for her brother. But I could help others not to take that path. Save other Lazulis from themselves.-

Kate felt full of pride for him, officer Weiss had made an incredible qualitative leap. All for the sake of her beloved daughter.

-I've never forgotten her, you know? I had other women, but Lazuli will always be Lazuli.-

Kate poured him another cup of tea:

-They say that a beautiful woman is unforgettable. But I'm proud of you, for seeing that my Lazuli was much more. Thank you. I am happy that it was you who initiated her to love.-

Bruno had never deleted from is cell phone some photos of himself with the jewel-eyed girl. Seven-year old pictures of their intertwined hands -milk and coffee- of her sitting on his knees with that rapper hat on her head.

He didn't have the heart to show them to Kate. Still with that immense respect, he touched her hand:

-Don't lose hope, don't ever lose it. We will bring them back home. You have my word.-

When officer Weiss left the house, it was already midnight.

Standing in the doorway, with her arms crossed and a tear in her dark eyelashes, Kate watched him crouch down, light two more candles and then leave.

She glanced at the now empty street, deep in the night, before closing the door.

_"I will never stop looking for you. I promise you, children."_


	6. Slippery Slope

Seventeen and Eighteen spent their time driving in the car and trying to take it as easy as possible: they had to look for Son Goku, but they began not to care the least about would have done it because they had to, but it wasn't a personal matter.  
Wandering and hunting Goku down was just a way to kill time, to seek a goal in that new life that seemed so empty and insignificant.

They hadn't had any fights since the theft of the van. A gang of bikers and that team of policemen whose car Eighteen had destroyed didn't count for.

Before the van there had been a small battle with Vegeta, the Namekian and the rest of their merry group, the ones who had welcomed them upon their awakening; nothing relevant, they had wrecked them without too much effort.  
Without counting that Seventeen had intervened out of a mere matter of agreement with the group, Eighteen had fought and defeated them single-handedly; still quite angry at her brother for not having given her time to kill Gero with her own hands, in the name of a forgotten promise, she had decided that it would be her turn.  
They hadn't killed anyone, no; it was more fun that they remembered the having tortured the saiyan who could change the colour of his hair on command by hitting him in the face and getting him tired, Eighteen had broken his arms, enjoying the sound of the bones cracking under her blows, one on each side. Now she could almost feel why those warriors loved fighting so much: defeating a worthy opponent nearly gave a sense of omnipotence. And she knew to be one of the two most powerful creatures that walked the Earth at that time. The other was Seventeen; she only tolerated him because she knew he was special to her. Otherwise, nothing would have prevented her from forcing him to shut that wide mouth of his, as wide as Vegeta's, whom she had left to bite the dust, barely breathing.  
Being beautiful and smart was already enough to have the world at her feet; to be so and moreover being in possession of powers with which she could subjugate that same world, was the end, being a cyborg was not that bad.  
After the beating, Eighteen had been intrigued by one member of the group in particular. He was a short bald guy who, unlike the others, did not always seem to be in the grip of that pathetic drive to fight stronger people. He stood aside, watching the others and then assisting them.  
"Here is a slightly more intelligent one, without masochistic instincts."  
Tien's gasping breath -Seventeen had almost choked him- and the presumptuous Vegeta's crumbled bones were as good as new after the young man -Krillin, was that his name? - had given them a kind of green tablet.  
Always with that curiosity, Eighteen had thought that in his discretion Krillin could be the most valuable member of the group: without treatment, the others would no longer be able to stand up. When she, Sixteen and Seventeen took their leave, a little disappointed by the low resistance of the group, he was literally shaking; so the mischievous Eighteen, teased by that demonstration of weakness, had wanted to play and had kissed him on the cheek.  
She was like that even before, she liked to play with guys.

Sixteen followed them everywhere, being almost always silent; he spoke only if asked to.  
For the duration of the clash he had nearly ignored the cyborgs, standing there on the edge of the road playing with the birds, to the slight disappointment of Seventeen.  
Continuing their journey by car, the twins and Sixteen moved further and further away from the North City district.  
At some point Seventeen stopped the van and stepped down to scan the air around him, immediately joined by Eighteen:  
-There has been some change in air pressure, perhaps the eruption of a volcano; well, very far from here anyway.-  
-It's on the outskirts of a city far down there, behind those ridges; two great powers are clashing.-  
Sixteen joined the cyborgs on the side of the road and pointed at the west with a nod.  
-Huh. You have a power radar and didn't tell us it?- Seventeen said domineeringly, looking at him with an annoyed expression on his face.  
-Well, you didn't ask me.-  
Sixteen was too mature to be angry at the twins.  
And then it wasn't worth it, since it was a matter of character. As he was calm they were boastful, but in the end they weren't bad people: it was them who had taken him out of his artificial sleep.  
Seventeen had asked him who the contenders were, but Sixteen had not been able to answer because they were not included in his database: -I can only tell you that one of the two has a strength that equals yours.-  
Eighteen widened her eyes, in those of her twin brother a nervous and at the same time amused expression appeared:  
-Ugh, will you be quiet? I guess the asshole's radar is defective: I don't know what your understanding of the situation is but I don't give a damn, because nobody in this world is stronger than me.-  
The cyborg threw that statement in the face of the android, pushing his chest out; Eighteen resented the aggressive and unfair response that Sixteen had to hear; she looked at Seventeen with grim eyes and sat down again in the passenger seat of the van.  
The asshole must have been Dr. Gero, concluded Sixteen; it was not the first time that Seventeen called him that, they must have quarreled before he was awakened.  
And for the umpteenth time he concluded that being silent was always the best choice.  
-They are fighting near the city- asked Eighteen -where are the people then?-

/

Kate hardly ever watched the news, she didn't care had other unresolved problems and couldn't care less about anyone else's, especially when November wasn't that far in time: soon it would have been the third anniversary of the disappearance of her children.  
By now she couldn't even feel sad, perhaps she had run out of tears. That was what worried her, the void.  
She feared that in a certain sense she would die once she stopped feeling emotions, for how unpleasant they may be. The total absence of feelings was equivalent to a kind of inner death.  
The detectives were still looking for Lapis and Lazuli and Kate had believed wholeheartedly to officer Weiss's promise, but it was now useless to try and demand the impossible; there wasn't much to question. Maybe they had been taken abroad, she had heard many times of children and teenagers who were kidnapped and then sold in other countries.  
Sold, or killed.  
The detectives suspected that, for Lazuli, the kidnapping had something to do with the white slavery ring; for Lapis instead, was it the gangs of the city?  
But according to the detective it was still possible that a similar fate had also happened to him.  
Kate therefore had little to no interest in the problems of others, but when by chance she had heard the news on the radio while driving, it left her bitter and, in a certain sense, uneasy.  
She waited anxiously to know more until the news appeared clear and detailed on the TV screen. It had happened that in a city in the far northwest all the inhabitants had disappeared; just like that, overnight, without leaving a trace.  
It looked like that the whole area had been completely evacuated.  
Traces, there were indeed some: the cameraman was shooting in real time the deserted streets of a town. Clothes lay spread or piled up on sidewalks.  
Just like when she, or Lazuli once, put them on the bed; pants or skirt, T-shirt, sweater, to match them or simply to store them.  
They lay there, empty and faintly blowing in the wind, populating the silent streets of the town like a procession of tombstones. The reporters found some windows open and filmed empty, abandoned rooms, fixed in time on the last moment in which they had been occupied.  
Kate swallowed a lump of nerves and anguish, those clothes were loosely resting over the furniture and it seemed that they still retained the print of the body, hanging around laid tables, on armchairs, beds, sofas. It seemed that the former inhabitants had abandoned everything as it was to embark on a desperate must not have been successful; Kate shivered, something was wrong.  
There was something terrible in the dead calm of that place. She couldn't have put it into words, but she didn't like those seemed that something really bad had happened, not a sound, not a sign of life apart from the voice of the brave journalists that only one channel, Z TV, had sent to investigate:-Nothing to be seen here... we're just wondering why it's full of clothes.-A depraved maniac? Yeah right, a maniac who strips naked and kidnaps a whole dismissed that hypothesis; curled up on the sofa, she found herself nervously biting her she felt a lethal frost creeping into her heart when the reporter let out a scream and the camera fell to the ground, interrupting the filming.

"What if it were the same killer? What if Lapis and Lazuli have also disappeared like this? " Kate wondered that evening, trying to sleep, even though she hardly slept anymore; the only time she had experienced such a state of tenacious insomnia was when she was pregnant with the twins."The babies were moving too much and I cried with anger like a fool, I just wanted to rest...and now, God knows how I wish they were here with me."Day after day, news were more and more dismal; everyone was worried at Z TV because the reporters had never returned and their clothes were discovered in a short time, exactly on the scene of the crime. It was now a unique case. As the days went by, other cities in the surrounding areas had suffered the same fate. Even though she knew that North City had not been touched, Kate lacked the presence of mind necessary to pick up the phone and ask Mr. Der Veer if his daughter was safe. Perhaps what remained of the people of the north had moved en masse to safer places, although it was not known whether there was actually a place like that, how far away it would have been."Who knows when it'll be our turn? If he will come here? "And then who, Kate questioned herself; but nothing really mattered, she could even die, she had nothing to lose. She would have just liked to say goodbye to her children before this grotesque serial killer came to take her in her city.

/  
En route to Mount Paozu, Son Goku's residence, Seventeen had decided to drive off the road while Eighteen snorted, leaving no doubt about her disapproval.  
That was a shitty day for her: saying that her mood was bad was an hours a mild pain had tormented her, she felt an unpleasant pulling sensation in the abdominal area.  
She discovered in that circumstance that he could still experience physical pain.  
And also other things.  
Of course, she had fought recently and Vegeta had given her a crazy headbutt in the stomach, but the cyborg thought that the effort and the blow she had undergone had not been enough to leave her sore. Because it wasn't the abs that hurt her.  
Self-awareness was imprinted in her brain, despite this having been changed, and the girl thanked herself with a sigh of relief when she remembered slipping the famous yellow little bag into the pocket of the last clothes she had stolen  
"Just one thing: what did I do to deserve all this?"  
So, while fumbling in the bathroom of the small service station where the three had stopped also to steal bottles of water and some chocolate-coated crap, she also recalled why she had asked Seventeen to let her kill slimy felt a shiver, she would have preferred not to remember at all.  
When she got out of the bathroom, Eighteen spotted some people - the cashier too- gathered before a TV screen hung high on a wall. They muttered between themselves with puzzled looks, while the television showed a room full of clothes.

"It could be my room." Eighteen thought with a sly smile. While taking advantage of the general distraction, she took from the shelves everything she needed.  
They were currently going through a shady, lush forest when she became impatient. Without saying a word, she perched herself out of the window and flashed a wave of energy that scorched the earth for the few kilometers ahead of them.  
She sat back down, satisfied: -I had enough of this bumpy road.-Bouncing on the seat had only increased the pain.  
Seventeen was clearly annoyed: -You're always the same.-  
-Someone pragmatic?-  
-A bully.-

The twins and the android had comfortably arrived at the home of the man they were supposed to kill. But it was empty, no one was there.  
Sixteen waited quietly in the van, as was taking advantage of the razor and soap he had found in the bathroom while Eighteen was tearing apart in the bedroom in search of a decent outfit. Their target seemed to have a wife, good for her.-Why do they all dress so badly? These human girls don't know how to dress! Oh..yowza.-  
She went to rant to Seventeen and found him facing the mirror with a soapy face, naked down to his waist not to wet his shirt, with his hair tied.  
-What's up?-  
-I don't know. Your chest is big.-  
The boy snorted, washing the razor blade under the water and then running it over his throat:  
-So? It has always been wide.-  
-Yes, wide. But now you look almost jacked. By your standards, I mean.-  
Eighteen remembered that her brother had always had the six pack and a willowy frame with broad shoulders and narrow hips; then she instinctively thought that the shorty who went around dressed like a Shaolin monk was nice and stout, instead.

By his standards?-Luckily you've been magnanimous, breaking Vegeta's arms. Sitting on him and suffocating him with that pachyderm's ass would have been too cruel. Even for you.-  
Splinters of quartz floated around Seventeen, the power of the impact projecting them into the bathroom furniture; the boy had hardly felt the big ornament, which his sister had grabbed from a bedside table to throw it to his back. He shook his head and put it under the tap; he too had noticed that he was more muscular than he had ever been, although he remembered that when he was human he had a bench and a barbell in his room.

He thought it must be Gero's handiwork.

Still looking for clothes that didn't make her turn up her nose, Eighteen had to settle for a basic but not too awful look: blue jeans and white T-shirt were never out of fashion. She clearly preferred light, bright and dainty hues, they matched so well her her natural palette of very luminous hair, eyes and skin. Usually she left black to her brother, he could rock it much better than she did, but she couldn't resist the trendy vest she found in a drawer. She matched it with black gloves and flats.

The twins took their time to properly change, washe and shave, then they went back to number Sixteen, asking him where they could find Son Goku. The android said that they had to move further south, to an island where the home of a dear friend of their man was located: he could be there, indeed, he had to be there.

Seventeen and his sister felt a little deflated for being just about to hit their target.

-Oh man, we have to fly 2700 km south. The end of the game.-

-And you haven't changed your clothes?-  
Eighteen was speechless, seeing that Seventeen had put on the same clothes after the shower. How disgusting could males be?

-Hey, do you remember the guy I kissed?-  
-Mm, yuck. Yes I remember him.-  
The twins flew at the speed of light, headed with Sixteen towards the coast.  
-Why are you reminding me?- Seventeen asked her with a nauseated look on his face.  
Eighteen let out a blissful chuckle: -I don't know! He was cute and sweet.-  
-Ugh. Kill me...-  
Seventeen remained silent for the whole trip; his sister disliked him not interacting with her.  
"You touchy good-for-nothing..."  
Had he taken offence in the candid comments she had made on his body?  
-There is something I wanted to talk to you about ... Seventeen, are you listening to me?-  
The boy muttered without looking at her.  
-I have no idea if cyborgs are allowed to dream, I don't even know if mine was a dream.-  
-Of course we can. Not him.- he hinted to the peaceful Sixteen with an air of superiority.  
-Well, whether it was a dream or a trance, I had a memory- Eighteen flew faster to be very close to her brother -there was a woman, I could hear her voice and see her quite in detail; I liked the sound of her voice very much, and she was beautiful. She had long dark hair, eyes like ours. She looked a lot like you.-  
-Like me?- he laughed -what the hell are you dreaming about? Are you sure?-  
-Sure! I'm not retarded- she retorted angrily -I don't remember what she said, she did nothing but singing. It's a memory I can't connect to anything.-  
Seventeen sighed, disheartened: -And neither can I, if that's what you wanted to know.-  
There were many things that the twins wanted to know, but to which they seemed to have no access. The woman was probably one of those Goku was close, soon she would have grown bored again.  
Eighteen thought about it and felt saddened to realise that, as young as she was, she had already lived for a long time without remembering all those experiences she felt real and present, somewhere in her mind. She had a whole life behind her, but no means of learning from that life.  
While her brother had fun doing car rides, all that was left for her was just an endless ocean of boredom.  
But she didn't know that soon their lives would have lost the flatness that had permeated them since the awakening.  
The twins could never have imagined that their troubles had not ended with the death of dr. Gero, on the contrary. Seventeen and Eighteen did not have the faintest idea that their existence was only part of a larger project, on which the doctor had worked all his life.

They had no way to know that they were being hunted by the Creature.

/  
An atmosphere of anxiety mixed with general listlessness, the consequence of collective relief, permeated North shown in those tragic pieces of news, staying at home did not protect against the mysterious scourge that took people away; the best one could do was not getting caught up in that collective psychosis and try to live normally. When the disappearances began to shift southwards, everyone in the city had poked their noses out of their burrows, sniffing the fresh air carefully and finding out that it hadn't been their turn: they were unharmed and there was no reason to freak out anymore.  
Gage had repeated these words on the phone, trying to reassure his family in East City.

They called him many times per day, everytime pleased to hear his voice once more. Classes at the university had continued regularly and soon normalcy would have come back, with joy, to everyone's lives.

When the call ended, the young man left the campus with a group of acquaintances and went to the local shooting range. Apparently shooting was a very popular pastime there in the north, although Gage could barely hold a simple pistol. Under the expert eyes of the pack, Gage chose a low-key basic model and, taking aim, he clenched his weapon and saw the world explode before his eyes.

-Woo! Gage almost hit the bull's eye.-

Gage nodded to the rest of the group and, tired from the focus he had put into that single shot, he sat down to watch them having fun.

-Look how cute.-  
-Too darn sweet...-  
-That AK-47 looks so big and mean in those little hands!-  
-Yes, but look how nice it is, leaning on those tits...-  
-My God look at those tits!-  
Gage heard the intellectual discussion and the laughters of the pack. He saw them all turned in the direction of a petite, apple-cheeked girl who was trying to shoot.  
Gage ignored the group and moved towards their unsuspecting looked at the mane of eye-catching red hair and, underneath, at the headphones that covered her ears; she removed them and turned around when she felt his touch on her shoulder.

-You alright?-  
She gave him a radiant smile, revealing white teeth:

-I am, thank you. This rifle is jammed, maybe it wasn't well cleaned, I don't know...-

Gage followed her to a table where, under the curious gaze of the pack, the girl took apart, cleaned and put the weapon back together with impressive speed.

-Now it should work.-  
Gage and the others looked at her with saucer eyes while she, cute as a button, raised a pale eyebrow:  
-What? Don't you know how to clean a rifle?-  
-Can you do it again?-  
The girl repeated the procedure: -I can do without looking.-  
She turned her head to the side and assembled the AK-47 one last time. The boys ogled from behind the butt of the rifle resting on her cleavage, tenderly thick with tiny golden and bronze freckles, while she prepared to hit the target. She fired a volley of bullets and hit the target's fake head.  
When she finished, the girl smiled at Gage and scowled at the others:  
-Can you tell those troglodytes of your friends to stop sexualizing a gun and a cleavage?-  
The troglodytes heard her well and whispered to each other, as Gage watched the girl tie her hair in a long braid.  
-I...those guys? Don't know them!-  
She clicked her tongue and looked at nothing, on her right side; she rested her hands on her hips bringing Gage's attention to her white, fleshy thighs.  
-Anyway, what are you doing here? I'm studying engineering. Next year will be my last.-  
-Vet school, three years to go.-  
Gage was amazed and watched the girl as she fired another shot: -A vet? And you shoot like this?-  
-So what?- she put her chin up and hid her hands in her pockets -I don't necessarily have to shoot living things. I only come here to let off steam.-  
As they started out of the shooting range, Gage thought at the ease with which he had just seen her handle that kalashnikov: -You must be pretty pissed, then.-  
-Sometimes, very much.-  
-You are an amazing what about simple pistols?-  
-Thank you! No, they are not fun for me. I learned to use those in high school, now I have moved on to semi-automatics.-  
Ever since she got to North City, she had gotten into the habit of suppressing anguish and depression at the shooting range whenever she wasn't absorbed by mad and desperate studying, sitting here and there in her campus apartment, drinking litres of coffee.  
She knew to be sensitive to exciting substances, but they helped to drift had never gone to West City to pursue the dream to become a paediatrician. It was a plan that belonged with another life, when everything was easy; it reminded her too much of the children she would never her father was right: she had a special talent, taking care of those in need, that was it. She knew, and thought it was stupid to waste it. So in the nick of time she had changed her plans, putting a cross on West City's medical school and deciding to devote herself to other kinds of creatures.  
-We need you on the front line then. Maybe a sniper like you will be able to hit whoever took those poor people...-Gage said it as a joke, but saw the girl's eyes fill with sadness and her sweet face twitch with anger; she looked like a different person.  
-No, disappearances are irreversible. The ones who are gone never come back.-  
Amazed and mortified to hear such gloomy words coming out of the mouth of that joyful person, Gage tried to change the subject:  
-How is it going for you, are you scared? I confess that I am... -  
-I don't care.-  
What a tough front she was putting on, now! Gage couldn't help but feel tenderness for her.  
Even though he realized that she probably could have castrated him with a shotgun.  
She repeated that she could not care less if she disappeared along with most of the people, despite the fact that her future career was important enough for her.  
-Sorry, anyway. I didn't mean to be rude.-  
Gage sighed in distress, convinced that he had already gambled all his chances to talk again to the sniper girl.-Come on, cheer up. Get that hangdog look off your face. Do you have a name?-


	7. Falling in the Black

Another pointless ride.  
The house on the coast was another bust, or rather, the twins only found the group they had already knocked out once; Eighteen remarked with amusement that Krillin did not miss the appeal. He looked her in the eyes and then lowered his, as if he felt embarrassed.  
The group categorically refused to say where Son Goku had fled.  
-Look, if you don't change your mind we'll stop being friendly.- Seventeen warned them.  
-Try me.- Piccolo, the Namekian, had come forward with his proud and frowning gaze, his emerald skin shone in the sun. The boy remembered him, he had made him bite the dust with only a hand, last time.-Over there is an island where we can settle this.-  
What was there to settle, did he want to take another beating? As usual, the twins didn't need to speak to understand each the cyborgs accepted the challenge and, accompanied by Sixteen and Piccolo they moved to an islet in the middle of the ocean, off the coast of the Country.  
Seventeen felt calm:

-If you don't talk this time we will really kill you, do you understand?-

The enemy chuckled, starting to prepare for the clash: he stripped himself of the large cloak and the turban he wore.  
_"Even if I want to play, I don't get it; does he want to waste my time? No, he's just a fool "_ the boy said to himself, rolling up his sleeves.

The Namekian observed the twins and their companion and saw with surprise that the big guy had stood aside with birds in his hands, while the blonde girl had tantalisingly sat down as if she was to the movies. Only the boy stood before him, with his posture he invited him to attack.  
-Fighting alone, n. 17?-  
-Sure will.- 

-We were...we were attacked.-  
The man, lying in a hospital bed, was struggling to speak into microphones, his eyes wide-open and feverish.  
Kate sat glued to the TV, watching; she really didn't want to, but it was like a with horror movie, when you can't cover your eyes to not see the worst scenes.-Where were you at the moment?- the reporter asked gracefully.

-In the office. I was there...it caught me and was going to kill me.-  
Z TV was broadcasting live from a town in the Centre.  
_"Just over 200 km from here"_ Kate curled up, clutching the blanket that covered her legs.  
The town had been attacked by the serial killer responsible for the massacres in the North.  
-A huge... creature- the man opened his eyes even further -all the people on the lower floors...it made them disappear.-  
Reporters waited for the man to be able to tell what he had witnessed; Kate also waited, sweating, frowning_: "My God, he was saved...what a shock."_  
-It uses a tail to pierce people and _drink_ them. You have no idea.-  
The police and journalists had immediately reached the attacked town, finding that almost all the inhabitants had been spared. Only in a building full of offices victims were claimed.  
Up to the sixth floor the officers had found the usual, ghostly abandoned clothes; on the seventh a group of live men. They had all been hospitalized and the reporters were interviewing one at the time.  
-It grabbed me and was going to suck me in too ...-  
The man panted as his voice began to give way.  
-And then what happened?- the reporter helped -where did the creature go?-  
-The creature...stopped out of the blue- gasped the man -it let me go...said something...I didn't get.-  
-It _said_?- asked the reporter -so the Creature can talk.-  
Kate winced. A creature, who knows what creature it could be.  
-It could talk, yes, very well. Like us. It said something like_ I finally found them_.-  
The man stopped and took a breath. The reporter handed him some water.  
-And then...it let me go and flew out the window.-  
By now all the news reports were talking about it: a murderous creature that flew into buildings and _drank people_.How?  
Like everyone else, Kate could not fathom such a thing.

On the TV they said there was nothing to fear, a few hours had passed since that attack in the Centre and no other town had been was the meaning of all that? What the heck was_ the Creature_?

Even on the TV they called it that; Kate believed it was one or more serial killers, but apparently the only one who had been able to testify had not described its appearance. The Creature could fly and was probably not human.  
Aliens? Yes, sure.  
Kate had never given credit to urban legends, and wasn't going to start. She didn't even believe this Creature frenzy.  
Now the police also dared telling her that maybe Lapis and Lazuli had faded away because of that brains, three years before this being, this thing had not yet appeared.

_"You are all crazy, you are all playing guards and thieves, making lambs preyed on by the wolf" _Kate mumbled bitterly,turning off the screen.

He had never had so much fun. That Piccolo was a real portent, not only had he started the clash with an apparent advantage, striking him with powerful blows and great speed, making him wobble. The Namekian had shown him a creative arsenal of energy blasts worthy of an expert warrior, who probably had practiced martial arts since before Seventen was even born as a had fun and let off steam in a real hand-to-hand fight, punches, kicks, wrestling, fun with a capital F.  
They gave each-other quite the beating, but neither of them managed to get the upper hand, because when it seemed that it was going to happen the respective opponent always pulled something out of his sleeve.  
They had gotten it on with such determination that the Namekian, trying in vain to bomb the cyborg with his hellzone grenade, had ended up destroying the islet.  
-Stop playing around, Seventeen! You make me wait longer and I'll have to come and finish him off.-  
Eighteen had grown tired of watching her brother play with his food.  
-Don't even think about it! I've never had so much fun since I awakened, so don't bug me and leave me alone!- he yelled back.-The little birds- muttered Sixteen in a low voice -they are gone, because of all the mess they have done...-When Piccolo and Seventeen landed on a new strip of land, they were still even; Piccolo had improved a lot since the last clash and was now able to stand up to him. But victory was an entirely different story, the cyborg thought proudly.  
The Namekian was obnoxious, he still had no intention of talking.  
They went on and on, for the love of it.  
But as the cyborg had begun that clash with the intention of killing Piccolo, he now felt a kind of respect for such a worthy opponent.  
Seventeen was impressed that the guy could still give him that much trouble, even though he knew that while his energy was infinite, the enemy's would sooner or later wane. In fact, Piccolo was already tired and breathing heavily: he suddenly gagged with dismay as he stood mouth half open and his eyes wide open, staring at something to his right.  
-What is it, Piccolo?-  
Intrigued, the boy also looked in that direction and what he saw made him wince discreetly.  
A silhouette had appeared on top of a cliff: a tall slim figure with non-human proportions stood out darkly in the afternoon sun.  
It was him.  
The heart of the Namekian froze.

_Massacres had been taking place in various towns for days: starting from the north, people disappeared without a trace. And it happened every day, multiple towns a planet's population had suffered a ghastly drain and Piccolo and his comrades had investigated.  
They had discovered the Creature: an evil being with a long sharp tail, which fed on the vital force -and with it, on their entire being- of humans to increase its own.  
He had revealed that he was not really interested in stuffing himself with regular people. He had named the prey he desperately wanted.  
He wanted n.17 and n.18._

Now here he was, he had found them. The enemy knew everything, but the twins certainly didn't.  
-Who...what's that thing over there?!-

Seventeen watched the monster, confident that he had never seen it in his life.

_"Hell, I would have remembered such an ugly thing."_

Hearing his words, Piccolo also startled: how could it be? No. 17 knew nothing about the Creature, nor about the tragic fate that awaited him.  
Sixteen peered at the monster with a frown. Eighteen also looked at him and felt frightened: since she was a child she had always liked horror stories, of monsters, of ghosts...but looking at that being she felt goosebumps, because none of the monsters or stories of which she had read or heard about was so scary.  
In that case, reality gave fantasy a run for its money.  
Had someone invented the scariest story in the world, well, it would have never, ever compared to the feeling of anguished panic that emanated from the creature looming over her.  
For its part the Creature also observed, anticipating its banquet.  
It said his name, Cell; he called the cyborgs _brother and sister_ and was dumbfounded at the sight of the red-haired giant, he did not recognize him.

-I don't know who the hell you are but do me a favor, you've come at the wrong time: go away, don't you see I'm busy? I was fighting him- said the unwary Seventeen in a mocking had felt a of lump in his throat at the sight of that thing, but he would have never shown his stress.  
The designated enemy resented what he was about to do, but had no choice: -N.17, watch out! Cell intends to make you part of him: if you stay, he will absorb you and you'll die. Run!-  
Seventeen wanted to respond in kind, but he did not succeed; he barely detected a kind of pointed dart meandering towards him.  
It was the monster's tail, the most terrible tail he had ever seen. Long, sharp, torpedo-like.  
It darted here and there always trying to pierce his body; but the boy was faster, he always dodged it.  
No! He made a mistake...why was he on the ground, with the monster pinning him down and aiming his tail at him?

An unexpected -and not requested- rescue came from the Namekian, the one who until recently Seventeen had intended to take kicked the monster away and stood beside Seventeen.  
How angry he was! Double humiliation: not only had he been struck by that thing, he also had to watch his personal enemy save him, as if he were a damsel in distress!  
_That sucks, _he thought to himself. _That sucks so much._  
When the monster concentrated its power and covered itself in a glare that flickered like flames, the cyborgs seemed to distinguish wide-mouthed skulls, ghosts, souls in the aura. The souls of all the monster's still tried to give Seventeen the chance to run for cover, to bring Eighteen.-What's happening? Why are Piccolo and Seventeen doing nothing, are they tired?-  
The girl was aware of the lost look with which she turned to the android, who had never stopped keeping an eye on the battlefield.  
-No, they aren't. Cell is too strong for them. They can't take him.-  
Not letting her dismay break beyond the boundaries of her face, Eighteen sat back down, confused, not knowing whether or not to believe the absurd words the wise Sixteen had just uttered.

The Creature was so strong it quickly broke the strenuous defense that Piccolo had tried to oppose him: the valiant warrior that Seventeen wanted to defeat had ended up thrown into the sea with a horrible gash in his chest, after the huge Cell had dangled him as a rag doll and pierced his chest with a ki there was nothing between Cell and his prey: they were facing each other.  
The boy could not force himself to remain calm and calculate the situation and on the other hand the Creature did not give him time: he began to hammer him with blows at insane speed, he wanted to weaken him and then take him, he had repeated Piccolo's words as soon as Seventeen had started to defend himself.  
He told the cyborgs that the three of them were like pieces of a puzzle, they were meant to be one.  
The twins were speechless: was the whole world mad at them?  
First Gero, who had kidnapped and transformed them; now this shitty monster who intended to _incorporate_ them, add them to himself to exponentially increase his power, achieve his perfect form and fulfill the doctor's megalomaniac dream. Once the two cyborgs had become part of him, Cell would have dominate the did everyone want to dominate the world and kill each other?  
The twins could't believe it.  
-No, it can't end like this. I want to live!- Seventeen screamed the words spontaneously dictated by his heart, suddenly so human, as he pounced on the Creature.  
When he ended up biting the dust again the pain was shocking. The boy couldn't even reason, he only felt the taste of defeat.  
_"Is this what you feel? Is that how it felt when we inflicted defeat on the group? Is it supposed to hurt like this?"_  
Seventeen tried to raise to his elbows. He only wanted to wheeze, instead he coughed up fresh blood.  
In the meantime, just to the side of the battlefield, Eighteen clenched her fists and looked down. Even if she didn't remember about it anymore, she hated to see her brother hurt. It disturbed her, saddened her, angered her. And judging from the state he was in now, that monster must have hurt him. Really, _really_ bad.  
It was the first time the cyborg girl had noticed that her twin brother, as superhuman as she was, was suffering physical pain.  
Yet she was unable to move. Sixteen, however, got up:  
-What do you want to do, Sixteen! Don't go, you'll be killed too!-  
The android smiled, perhaps touched by the words of the young cyborg:  
-No, Eighteen. I have to do my part. You two are good guys, during our time together you did not cause unnecessary harm to people or animals, you respected this planet. I really enjoyed this journey with you.-  
Eighteen watched him go, knowing she couldn't stop him.

Cell loomed over the boy lying on the ground and gasping for air: he had warned him not to fight, if he hadn't been so stubborn he would not even have had to torture the blood he had lost and feeling humiliated, Seventeen empathized with his enemies for the first time: if he could, he would have laughed nervously. Half-man, half-machine, he was much more human than he could and wanted to he, who in the moments when the doctor's programming made him think that humans were an inferior race, had thought that perhaps they were.  
He felt helpless and vulnerable before his enemies and also his allies.  
Sixteen and Eighteen, why didn't they come to his rescue? Yet they had seen everything.  
No, Sixteen had done nothing but tell him to withdraw! But why listen to him, after all his power radar was defective...  
_"Blessed are you, I envy you for being so detached. You are real machines, the asshole would be proud of you. "_  
Cell abruptly interrupted the flow of his thoughts, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and holding him off the ground as he kicked and struggled; he didn't want to look at that monstrous physiognomy, the mere thought of ending up devoured by that horrible thing turned his stomach.  
The monster could not stand his wiggling and punished him with a blow to the back that took his breath away.  
What happened next was like a movie for him.  
The monster's tail opened like a funnel and Seventeen saw a hole above his head, a black hole and just after a horrid throbbing gut; he saw himself fighting for his life and Sixteen coming to defend him, fighting the monster.  
Sixteen showed off unheard power, shooting laser beams from his eyes in Cell's face, dismembering him by tearing off that tail. Seventeen swallowed blood and dust, feeling frightened once again to see the tail grow again on the monster's back, a strange liquid splashing around and melting the stones and the soil it came in contact with.  
After another clash, Sixteen threw the Creature inside the earth, so deep that no one could see it anymore. The android charged a titanic wave of energy and directed it into that opening in the ground.  
From a distance, others had come to watch too. Tien breathlessly observed the android who had intervened to protect the cyborg. He now seemed to possess immense power.  
Sixteen yelled again to run away, unsure of the outcome of his blow. But the Creature seemed to have disappeared and Seventeen, furious and ready to fight again, began to call it: Cell had to pay for the humiliation he had inflicted on him.  
The cyborg rubbed what must have been a blow on the forehead and spit out saliva:  
-Where are you, you goddamn overgrown roach, you monster? I'm here, I'm waiting for you!-  
And then Seventeen heard a distant voice, a voice calling his name, the voice of Tien, an enemy: -SEVENTEEN, BEHIND YOU!-  
And then all he saw was black; the sunlight was gone and the boy could only feel the black, the heat, a sense of suffocation. An anguish never experienced before cut off his breath as he felt coils winding him until he cried out in pain:  
-NO! Let me go! You can't do this, I don't wanna go in there! I'm not ready!-  
He didn't know what made him cry out loud, even though he knew it was useless; when oblivion completely enveloped him, Seventeen understood that it was all over for him.

In another corner of the world, Kate slept a restless sleep. In her nightmare she saw Lapis and Lazuli as they had been at the time of the disappearance, two eighteen year-old, walking in a dark corridor while an even darker shadow floated behind them, with embers eyes and claws that crawled over their bodies and squeezed them, crushing their limbs, making them moan._"No, stay away from my children! Can't you see they're scared?"_  
The shadow expanded, ignoring her entreaties.  
Kate woke startled with tears in her eyes, drenched in cold sweat. She sat for a moment between the sheets, until she felt excruciating pain piercing her belly and back. Kate screamed and threw herself on the bed as that pain tore her insides, just like when they were born and she had gone into labour. She lay breathless and felt like murmured the names of her beloved children as she sobbed, alone, in her empty house.

Those who witnessed the scene and saw the monster emanate light and energy as it transformed could not help feeling troubled.  
_-The boy! The boy!- _someone had shouted.  
The male cyborg was gone, screaming in such a desperate way that could only mean he had experienced absolute terror. Standing before such a show, the whole group unknowingly felt almost united, the cyborg, the android, the earthlings, the Namekian. Without them noticing the line between good and evil, between friends and enemies had blurred and they stood for a moment looking at each other, in a sort of no one could have ever understood how_ she_ she wanted was letting herself sink, but instead she had to fight to save at least her she deserve what would have happened to her? Maybe.  
Who knows what Sixteen and even the enemies had thought when her brother was caught.  
And Seventeen, who knows what _he_ had thought.  
Surely why she, his twin sister, had remained to watch him fall without even moving a muscle to help him, while he was screaming and begging the Creature to let him live.  
Sixteen had tried. And even when the Creature had immediately attempted to take her, he had once again taken to the field and been seriously injured.  
She had then done something she would never have imagined to do, on that distant day when she had secretly read some of Dr. Gero's notes. Looking angrily at Cell's face, now lit up by two gripping blue eyes, eyes he had stolen from Seventeen, Eighteen had put a hand on her heart and challenged him:  
-If you get close to me, I'll blow up the bomb in my chest.-  
But Cell knew she wouldn't have time to do it; the cyborg he had absorbed minutes earlier had given him tremendous speed and strength. The girl would have been good and absorbed, once and for all before even having time to explode.

Hearing him say that took Eighteen's last hopes. She was sure to be experiencing something that humans feel, a panic attack, when Cell attempted to persuade her to die using her brother's a moment, her heart had stopped beating and her knees had wobbled.  
Then, before Cell could pounce on her, Tien had intervened burying the monster once more with a volley of_ kikoho_, until he had fallen to the ground, exhausted; if it weren't for _the enemies_, she and Sixteen would never have been able to run away and hide on another island in the archipelago.

But what about her? What kind of ignoble monster was she, who had stood there gawking?  
The saddest thing was her awareness; Eighteen knew that Seventeen would have been her shield; he would have fought for her, fallen for her. But she didn't even try; she had left him for had she become?  
Probably everyone was thinking the same thing, that she was just an ungrateful, unsavoury character.  
But she couldn't give a damn, the pain she had realized to feel was already enough; she knew with certainty that in the end she was not as non-human as she had thought, her heart was squeezed, pulped, broken. She couldn't even talk.

Eighteen had never heard anyone scream like that. And those screams rumbled in her head like an echo, with shocking snapped inside her. She fell to her knees, on the ground, and uttered a cry that never came out while Sixteen carried her away.  
He was her brother, and now he was gone.

Disappeared. Faded. Who knows he felt any pain? What had his last thoughts been like?

_"I will never see you again in this life. But soon he will come for me; that's what I deserve for not rescuing you, for breaking my promise. Forgive me, brother. "_  
Eighteen had the death in her heart, she knew what she was going to face: she hadn't been saved, she only had to die knew that after watching the person she loved most in the world die, she wished she was never born.

Now Cell, even bigger, even stronger and even hungrier flew over the archipelago, seeking her. And she panted, choked by anguish, and sadness, and fear that split her in two.-You mustn't move, he's attacking anything that moves on this island. If you stay still, maybe you'll save your life.-

Eighteen heard Sixteen without listening to him, all she wanted was to melt and disperse like snow in the spring sun. Discreetly she clung to the only friend she had left.A little later she heard a noise not far from her and when she turned she noticed the shorty, the guy she liked.

_"Fantastic. What is he doing here too? "_  
-Get out of here, right away. If you stay, you will be devoured by Cell and then it will be the end of everything.-  
Then he remained silent, with an upset face:_ "And don't look at me like that!"_  
Eighteen no longer felt in control of her nerves, which without control made her jerk and rattle. She was totally hysterical, the only thing she thought was that she didn't want to believe she had reached that point: she had defeated Dr. Gero, she had regained her freedom. She didn't want to die, eaten by a monster!  
While she stood petrified once again, the boy who had attacked them at their awakening was now attacking the monster, kicking him away every time he tried to reach for her.  
And Eighteen also saw Vegeta, who seemed to favor Cell. Revenge was a dish better served cold, she had been the master of it; that Vegeta she had humiliated could now take revenge on her, letting Cell devour her.  
And he did.  
Eighteen could no longer think when she saw the Creature heading very quickly towards her, with a sharp hiss. There were no words to describe Krillin and Sixteen who were immediately knocked down, nor for the terror that exploded in her chest, for the blinding light that at some point shot through her eyes.  
Realizing that she had nothing more to lose, in a fit of rage Eighteen launched herself against the Creature: -You are a monster!-  
Kicks and punches were no use.  
There were no words for the tight darkness that enveloped her like the coils of a snake. The last thing Eighteen's eyes, still blinded by the light, saw in desperate agony was_ her_.  
The beautiful woman with long dark hair. Her smile was heartwarming, her laughing eyes an the rest of the face looked beautiful. She held out a hand for her while hugging two children, boy and girl.  
Twins.


	8. An endless Road to rediscover

A very blue sky. A deluge of light, it seemed to be closer to the sky from there.

When Eighteen opened her eyes she was surprised by all that blue; was she in Heaven?

It could have been, but what was she doing there then?

Whatever place it was, she couldn't remember how she got there.

Fragments of sentences and chitchat came muffled to her ears, her senses were still in a state of general numbness that Eighteen couldn't shake off.

She saw two small hands stretched above her; her eyes couldn't focus properly and she didn't see who they belonged to.

Wherever she looked, all that she saw was more sky.

Suddenly she felt well enough to sit up; she scanned her surroundings and saw an endless white floor, people kneeling around her.

People...the group of _enemies, _with Piccolo. And Krillin!

Eighteen jumped to her feet studying the new environment, her brain alert again. Now she remembered.

The last time she saw the shorty was when he had tried to chase her away, before the Creature pounced on her and enveloped her in that suffocating darkness from which she still didn't realize to have escaped.

She had a sudden memory of that terrible moment and her insides twitched painfully, shivers shook her. Eighteen squinted until the bad memory faded, for that time. When she calmed herself down she realized she was alive, her body still whole: she would never have thought to see her body in one piece again.

What about Seventeen? Why wasn't he there?

Still on the defensive the girl jerked and trembled while looking around. For a change, her mind was clouded.

-Don't worry, we're at Kami's Lookout, a safe place. Son Gohan killed Cell, you don't have to be afraid anymore.-

It was he who had spoken, the shorty. He explained how Son Goku's 11-year-old son had defeated the Creature, but the confused Eighteen listened to him distractedly and didn't keep in mind the name of the hero who had saved them all. She was told that Son Goku, however, had died in battle.

-Yeah, now nobody in the world is stronger than Gohan! You don't wanna mess with us, neither you nor the other one!- someone from the group shouted at her, a man with a crew cut who seemed to be called Yamcha. She wondered how she knew his name.

"_The other one? Seventeen?!" _Eighteen felt real joy pervading her heart.

Shorty glanced angrily at _Yamcha _and told her everything that had happened with Cell, also how he'd helped her.

-You should only be grateful to Krillin: it's thanks to him if you didn't die in battle, he's always been by your side since Cell has spat you out.- Piccolo murmured indignantly.

Eighteen said nothing; she didn't care.

-Where's Seventeen? What did you do to him?-

Krillin nodded; Eighteen moved away a little and saw a boy of Piccolo's race, a Namekian, stretching his hands over her brother's unconscious body.

Eighteen ran to the boy's side and knelt precipitously: -Tell me he's alive!-

She spoke hastily, short of breath.

The boy, the new Kami, nodded as he continued to hold his hands forwards. He took them off suddenly, when the sky met another sky: Seventeen's blue eyes widened and he heaved a deep sigh, as if he were breathing for the first time after ages. He turned on his side, looking around with the same air of bewilderment that the group had just seen on his sister's face.

When his gaze met Eighteen's, they both stared at each other without speaking.

They stared at each other as their inner speech began to flow seamlessly, richly, understandable to the two of them alone.

Kami vanished silently, giving the set of twins a tender smile which neither of them caught.

The inner conversation continued uninterrupted, until tears filled her eyes and his lips unveiled a great big smile; they could have hugged rolling on the floor, laughing and crying at the same time, but something that they both knew wasn't the presence of the _enemies _prevented them from doing so.

They simply looked at each other for a long time, amazed and relieved to see themselves alive and well.

-Seventeen, you're here,- she began, erasing from her pretty face the expression that betrayed her deepest feelings; but she stopped immediately when the celestial vault, from clear that it was, became threatening and dark.

-What's happening now?-

\- I don't know, I'm gonna find out. Stay close to me.- Eighteen grabbed her brother by the sleeve and dragged him along, glancing at a white building; they came to a column and hid behind it, trying to see what was going on.

The group was gathered around the young Kami, who held out his hands towards something bright resting at his feet.

-What are those? They look like stones.- Seventeen whispered.

Eighteen looked closely: -Yes, seven bright stones.-

What left the two youths mouth agape and nose up was a huge figure that released itself from those spherical-shaped stones, rising towards the sky and occupying most of it.

-Look! It's a dragon, like the ones in Chinese prints!- Seventeen pointed to the sky with a beaming smile -that's cool.-

The bewitched girl stared at the luminous animal, without understanding why it was there. Someone in the group had started talking but the two of them were too busy staring at the titanic dragon to pay attention to their words. They were talking to the dragon!

The twins listened to Krillin's voice:

-We would like to bring all of Cell's victims back to life.-

Good, a dragon who granted wishes; it's never too late to marvel.

Eighteen thought that if as a human she had stumbled upon a kind of animal-like magic genie, she would have asked for clothes and a boy worthy of her.

Thinking about the word _boy _she felt her blood tingle. Boy, partner, someone to share one's life with. Another idea filled her thoughts.

At some point Seventeen tapped her on the leg: -Listen! They're talking about us.-

-... I wish for you to turn cyborgs 17 and 18 back into humans. What they used to be.-

Despite the distance, the cyborgs' super sight allowed them to see the glimmer in Krillin's dark eyes when he had expressed that request.

Eighteen startled, what kind of request was that? Both turned their gaze back to the sky, hearing a very deep voice, more thunderous than a storm.

It was the dragon speaking.

-This, then! I have no words…-

Eighteen did not answer her brother, she was speechless too; the talking dragon was only the last item on her list of wonders.

The two siblings went back to stare at Krillin, who had bowed his head with a defeated expression.

-The dragon said no, didn't he?- Seventeen looked into his sister's eyes. He waited for her answer with an anxious look, which concealed hope and torment.

She was still dazzled, and just nodded slightly.

-Let's put it this way, then- the shorty raised his head again -try this, at least, please. Could you free them from the bomb inside them?-

Eighteen held her breath, Seventeen looked at her, lost: -What the hell?! What is he saying?-

-The bomb, Seventeen…- the girl almost ignored him. She felt her heart in turmoil, she was moved.

If only Krillin had fully understood what he was asking for them!

-I'm sorry, but I lost you. What bomb, how…-

-SILENCE.-

The twins stared at each other, he_ silenced_, she _angry_.

-I once read on the doctor's notes that there's a bomb in our chest. Next to the heart, a fail-safe,- she explained -which can serve both as an attack and as a defense.-

-Ah, I'm so sorry if you didn't tell me.-

The cavernous voice spoke again: -This I can do. Goodbye-.

The dragon finished talking and dissolved into an explosion of light, disappearing as it had arrived; instantly the sky went back to blue.

-We no longer have the bomb…- she murmured, feeling her chest, as if looking for a bulge or a weight she had never felt, except at the precise moment when Krillin had mentioned it.

-If I had a bomb inside me, I don't feel any different- he shrugged -I have ignored its presence so far.-

-How odd.-

Seventeen ignoring fundamental details because he was too busy thinking about his nonsense was something that really shocked Eighteen.

Eighteen's mind was totally invaded by feelings that made her head reel.

"_Thank you so much ... thank you so much ..."_

She kept those words to herself, returning to secretly listen to the group's discussions.

-Why did you express your wish for Seventeen too?- asked crew-cut _Yamcha _, looking questioningly at Krillin.

The little man flushed a deep red, Eighteen clearly felt that his body temperature and his blood pressure had changed. Just like her own.

-Well, I like Eighteen but Seventeen is more suitable for her, isn't he? At least she will be happier with him…-

The girl heard a strange noise and turned to Seventeen, cracking up from his spot; she looked at him severely and twisted her mouth.

-Did you hear that?! Oh, Eighteen, my true love!-

She made a face at him. She could not resist anymore and came out of her hiding place:

-Idiot!-

The little group was surprised to see her jump out suddenly.

-Seventeen is my twin brother!-

The girl stood for a while, looking at that bunch of long faces.

" _They are such limited beings ..." _Seventeen had finished laughing and, from behind the column, had stayed to watch the impending scene.

-Well, don't hope for it anyway,- she continued, galloping, -I _didn't give a damn_ about theexplosives in my body, is this clear, bonehead?-

Eighteen tried to calm down. What a scene she was making... but she couldn't keep quiet. She kept brooding; why was it so important to her to let him know she wasn't seeing anybody?

A person with a minimum of acumen would have noticed that she and Seventeen looked _very_ alike, she thought, but why had she chosen to explain it to him anyway?

Too much confusion.

She turned to the "bonehead" and shot him an intense gaze.

She only said _"I'll see you around" _, before flying away.

-You could at least wait for me, Eighteen, you left without saying anything.-

The twins flew aimlessly. She continued to brood, carrid on until they came down to the ground and sat in a flowery meadow.

-Sis... I don't want to interrupt your musings, but where's Sixteen? I never saw him again.-

The last thing Seventeen remembered of Sixteen, was the android taking the field and dismembering Cell.

The rest of the memories he brought back made him close his eyes suddenly, a shiver ran down his spine.

Eighteen roused herself from his thoughts and her eyes darkened as she shook her head.

The cyborg girl looked sadly at her brother, who in turn stared at her without having the right references to understand: -Is there anything I should know, Eighteen?-

-Yes, many things.-

-Then let's start from the beginning- he reassured her, giving her a smile -most important, we are alive: I thought Cell had…-

He could not find the words. He didn't know what to say and the fear was beginning to rise.

-This is what those people told me,- said Eighteen. -Cell took us both: we don't remember it because we were inactive but alive inside his body. Alive and well, whole and perfectly vital.-

-I remember.-

Seventeen knew then that everything he _thought_ of having dreamt of while trapped inside Cell was true. He felt that Eighteen must also have seen Sixteen's death. A death full of honour, worthy of how he had lived. He had been an android of few words and few actions, but those few words and actions would remain forever etched in the twins' heart. Perhaps it was to him that the world owed everything: without him Son Gohan would have never achieved the transformation that had allowed him to defeat Cell, together with his father Son Goku.

-But if Krillin asked the dragon to bring back anyone killed by that monster, Sixteen must be somewhere. I want you to come with me to find him.-

The cyborg had stopped in midair, his hands on his sister's shoulders and his eyes restless, trying to record her thoughts.

-I don't know, Sixteen was completely artificial.-

-I'm sorry, but if he was a victim of Cell why shouldn't he have come back to life? Are you telling me that a fucking _magic dragon _can't even resurrect a machine? Come on…-

Of course Eighteen would go with him: Son Goku was dead, so there was nothing left for them to hunt. Now they could only live free.

Still seeing the same large flowery meadow beneath them, Eighteen followed her brother and they both landed, making themselves comfortable. She lowered her eyes for a moment and when she started speaking her voice faltered: -Seventeen...I want to apologize.-

The young man straightened his long hair:

-For what?-

Eighteen swallowed the tears: -For not helping you, when Cell…-

Sitting among the fragrant plants, the girl hid her face between her knees and let her voice tremble uncontrollably, while sobs that didn't want to go out shook her whole body.

-Forgive me Seventeen, please; I lost it...and it was horrible, I didn't know what to do. What did you feel?-

Seventeen stared at an indistinct point on the horizon: -It's indefinable. It was like dying.-

-I first felt suffocation, then I don't know.-

Eighteen skipped the part she had learned from Piccolo, about how Krillin had held her in his arms as the battle that had ended with the annihilation of the most terrible crime produced by Dr. Gero's insane mind raged on. When everything had calmed down the whole group -plus the two of them- had transferred to the place where, shortly after, the twins had regained consciousness.

Seventeen told her he believed they were broken down or something like that. How was what his sister had just told him possible? He didn't ask, he had by now lost count of all the impossible things that had happened to him.

He also told her something else, which occurred to him when he thought of what she had said: -If it is true that we saw and heard everything while we were inside Cell, then is what we dreamt of also true?-

The girl didn't understand.

-I remember Sixteen's sacrifice, Son Goku's voice, and that I always dreamt of a girl. It's not the same you told me about- Seventeen anticipated his sister -a girl more or less our age: she had beautiful red hair, she stayed close to me and she was hugging me. I took her in my arms and kissed her, etc.-

Eighteen saw her brother look down, embarrassed, and that made her smile: -So?-

-So I would like you to help me, in addition to Sixteen I also want to look for her: it felt real, I felt I loved this girl so much, her body was not foreign to me as if she and I really had... as if I had known her.-

The cyborg girl tried not to laugh, sensing what he wanted to say:

-You said her hair was red.-

-Yup.-

-Are you sure it wasn't Sixteen?-

Seventeen felt upset: -Is it so fun?-

Maybe she was someone he had known as a human.

-... I have to find her. If I had her here now, I would hold her in my arms and never leave her again.- Seventeen peered at the sky with in a dreamy way -if I knew her as a human, whoever she was, she's something that saved me in a hopeless place.-

-Look, you're a cyborg, not a hormonal kid.-

Then it was she who lowered her gaze: -However, I will never forget him, Sixteen: I hope you are right and that one day we will meet again, the three of us.-

/

The announcement that the _Cell situation _was over had been broadcast by every radio station, every TV channel, it was on all social networks, on all newspapers; there had been fireworks and parties all over the country. Now many TV channels showed the world champion Mr. Satan in real time while doing interviews, Q&A with fans, signing photos. That, a martial arts expert was the hero who had defeated Cell, the madman whose identity nobody could understand.

-It's on me for always suspecting everything, but something about him is so off . He doesn't seem as tried as he should be after battling that Cell guy. Naming Orange City after him, madness!-

Gage laughed: he refused to worship Mr. Satan and to spend money to go to the newly christened _Satan City_, to huddle against the gates of Mr. Satan's villa in the hope that the star knew that he existed. Laughing and joking, between those who had returned home during the _Cell Games _to be with their families and those who had now embarked on the journey of hope to meet the hero, the campus was almost empty.

He had, as usual, limited himself to video and phone calls with his family in East City: as he was about to graduate, he wanted to spend as much time with Carly as he could. She had returned to Central City only once, to spend some time with her father and witness with him the inauguration of the new war memorial.

For the time life had given them, she had enjoyed hanging out with Gage. He had revealed himself to be an easy-to-impress guy, always hanging on her lips. He awakened in Carly a distant compassion that, at times, she confused with pity.

Gage was the one that _could have been_. He had been relentless since the day they first met at the shooting range; she had been on the fence about him for a while.

A dinner here, almost a kiss there, Carly always ended up backing away when it came to walk the walk. She just couldn't.

And Gage was such a sweet boy; Carly knew that comparing him to the one who got away was a huge mistake. It was wrong, terribly unfair.

It was useless to compare Gage with the soothing voice to the lively Lapis; Gage's nice big arms and the variety of Lapis's smiles and sexy smirks, the deep brown and bright blue of their eyes.

They had _nothing_ in common, but Carly's mind was branded with fire.

She was beginning to believe she would lead a lonely life, and with the force of habit that idea of tranquility was beginning to please her.

But then, in everyday life Carly indeed compared Gage's way of kissing -sweet, but still a little rough- to Lapis's soft mouth, to his expert grip when he used to squeeze her against him in an exciting way.

Wherever Lapis had gone, she couldn't follow. It was useless to waste away over a chapter of her life that had ended in such a tragic way, in a way that went totally beyond her control and her choices.

Carly could also pretend that nothing in her life had ever gone wrong; but the pain of loss and nostalgia had been enormous when Gage, in the intimacy of his dorm room, had taken off his t-shirt while drinking up Carly's curves with his eyes, stripping her of her plain underwear with a look that shone with emotion.

When they were lying down, Carly had whispered sincere apologies as she pictured once again Lapis's body penetrating hers.

-I can't, Gage. I can't forget.-

Gage had begged her to talk to him, to let him help her. As she got dressed, her back turned to him, Gage said he loved her; he loved her as he had never loved anyone, but he could not guarantee he'd have the chance to wait for her forever.

So he had watched Carly cover that ethereal skin he would've never tasted, looking at her through tears he hadn't shed as she left the room.

Gage had stayed. Even though he knew that Carly couldn't give more of herself, he had given it a try and was now determined to extract joy from every little crumb of her that he managed to get hold of: the sheen of her carrot hair, talking about their degrees and future careers, Carly sitting at the final discussion of his thesis. They were little pills of happiness for Gage, they changed his day.

For his part Gage had become, during that year, the lifeline that had kept Carly tethered to reality, saving her. Not a day passed without her feeling guilty for not being able to return the feelings of such a good guy.

However, she had the opportunity to understand how important Gage was to her one afternoon, while they were having lunch in the university canteen.

At the jeering of his acquaintances, the same pack that had accompanied him to the shooting range, Gage lowered his eyes in humiliation.

-Pretend you don't hear them.-

Carly protectively wrapped her arm around his back, carefully eavesdropping on the pack sitting at the table behind them:

_"What a loser, he's been after her for a year and still hasn't nailed her."_

_"Nail her? He hasn't come anywhere near those _bazookas_. But maybe I could ..."_

Gage gasped when Carly angrily slammed a hand on the table; he saw the look in her eyes go from patience to absolute fury. He watched with confusion and anxiety as she turned around and set off towards the other table, condescension written all over her frown.

And then the people in the canteen witnessed something incredible: a petite young woman approaching a table where three young men sat, laughing and catcalling. She pointed her feet in front of the biggest, a beast at least 100 kg-heavy, as burly as Gage.

-This is from someone too kind to do it.-

Everyone watched her flex her arm and then hit the beast in the face with an amateurish but effective hook. The other two stopped laughing as their mate grunted in pain holding his jaw, slumping in his chair. People applauded and cheered.

Other girls the same ape had disrespected shouted _"you go, sister!" _as Carly passed by, taking back her place next to Gage.

Gage was almost hypnotized by the people still chanting _"K.O., K.O.!"_

He hardly noticed that his knight in shining armour had sat down next to him again, shaking her hand in pain.

-You're hurt because of me.- Gage felt even lower as he stroked her hand. It wasn't broken, but he saw some red blotches that looked purple on Carly's pearly skin.

And now, still bleeding from the amateurish hook, the beast was coming to them. Carly hit the table again, while Gage got up to face him.

-Gage, you chickenshit. You have a problem with us and you send the girl?-

Carly could not help but yell at him that it had been her decision: the two men ended up resolving the matter with one hit each, then spontaneously quitting. After all, they were no longer in high school.

A few days later, Gage's chest was still bruised and sore from the blow he had received from the _ape_.

-We made a complete ass of ourselves, Gage…-

-That left hook wasn't that bad. I didn't know you could do beatdowns. I mean, you're a sniper but you keep surprising me.-

He made her smile: -I was taught.-

-Who taught you? In this case, I could use some advice.-

-Someone I used to know.-

Carly's eyes went sad again. They were sitting on a bench on the campus, gazing from afar at the glacier, the Great Eden, and at the grounds of the _RNP _beneath it.

If it weren't for the fight she'd caused, Carly would have spent the day hiking in the _RNP _with Gage as they had planned for some time, and Gage wouldn't have moaned in pain every breath he took.

She was very ashamed of herself: -I couldn't just sit and watch. I can't stand the way they treat you.-

Gage turned to her with a melancholic sigh: -I thank you infinitely for your help. But all this, losing our day out, being reduced to this state happened because I'm a wimp. What went through your mind, were you hoping to knock him out?-

Carly knew she couldn't knock out a guy that size with her poor combat experience, but at least she was happy she could hurt him.

-No, no Gage. It's something that runs far deeper. It's my problem.-

Carly always wanted to do something good for the people she cared about. Every little good deed against them mattered, to make them happy, to remind herself how important they were.

-Why did you want to defend me?-

And so, spontaneously, Carly told him what she had started to approach, but had never finished the time she had fled the dorm room.

-Because you matter to me, even if I can't give you what you're seeking. When you care about someone and want them to know you have to act _now_, without waiting for tomorrow. Because these people won't be there forever, your time is limited. One day they are there and you plan to spend your life with them, you want to do or say something nice just to show how much you love them. And you end up procrastinating, thinking you still have many days ahead of you. But then, you turn around for a second and they're gone. You only saw them the day before and maybe you even fought them: and when they are gone you can no longer make amends. You no longer have a chance to tell them you love them. They leave too young. Forever.-

Her voice cracked, she tried to suppress a sob.

When Carly started talking about the love of her life her eyes filled with tears, and she couldn't keep going. Gage understood once and for all that there was nothing he could do about it, Carly would never be his.

She had once been in love, then she had lost him; she had implied that he was now dead. This precluded her from him: Gage had said to himself that he could compete with someone more intelligent, more virile, more handsome, more likeable. Whoever his rival in love would be he could have reasoned with him, a person, flesh and blood.

But with a dead guy, he couldn't compete. It was a perfect, idealized entity; Carly probably kept on reliving in loop all her memories with him and Gage had no chance against that.

Paradoxically Gage found peace that day, finally learning the truth behind Carly's inability to love him.

And he let her go. He freed his heart from an overwhelming burden. He gave up on her, on the impossible.

When the time came for him to return to East City after graduation, he decided to say goodbye to Carly. He knew that in the long run, it would be unbearable to have the most beautiful girl in the world right in front of him, so close but utterly inaccessible.

At the moment of the goodbye they hugged close, wishing for each-other a long happy life.

A life that would no longer include one or the other.


	9. Women for the Future

Weeks had gone by since they had left the little man and the others at Kami's Lookout.

Seventeen and Eighteen wandered among fields without borders, yellow with ripe wheat. He was closed in on himself and hardly spoke.

He felt distressed; the memories of the dreams that had accompanied him during the Creature's horrible oblivion continued to resurface before his eyes. Time only made the image of the red-haired girl more and more unforgettable.

Who knows who she was, an ancient human memory or the result of imagination and solitude?

He found himself longing for her passionately, while at the same time wondering if he could love somebody who had possibly never existed.

He kept wondering if he had truly known the softness of that body, the radiance of that face whose features he did not remember. He no longer remembered her name or the context that had brought them together.

Damn it, it was all so indefinite! Real or not, he had lost her. All that he had left of her was just a dream.

Vivid, yes, but still a dream.

What a bad punishment Gero had inflicted on him, how he would have wanted to remember! Or to have a talking dragon to do it for him.

Eighteen always mused, too. She didn't know who the girl Seventeen had talked to her about was, but she felt almost jealous: in those moments _her twin_ hadn't thought _of her. _

She had often found herself hearing that extremely pleasant voice in the distance, summoning who knows what memories. The dream always started like this, with herself sitting on someone: beside her was a young boy, four years old tops, whom she could see in detail.

He was a splendid child: freckles dotted his high cheekbones, as if he'd spent the day playing outside in the sun; he had narrow, slanted, strikingly blue eyes that were rarely seen paired with raven hair.

He always looked in her direction and smiled at her, revealing dimples on his cheeks; then the voice she liked so much began to sing a lullaby and she raised her head following the sound...And then she saw her: the beautiful woman, singing and holding her with one arm. Eighteen didn't recall the music, nor the words.

The beautiful woman's facial features were almost identical to the boy's; Eighteen felt she had always known her voice, even if she couldn't associate it to that person. The appearance of the woman told her nothing, apart from an exceptional resemblance to Seventeen.

Then the scene always changed suddenly and she became a spectator: the woman cradled two children, the boy who looked like a painting and a girl so blonde her hair looked almost white.

Those children looked so much like her and Seventeen.

When the children fell asleep, Eighteen saw the woman interrupting her song and stretching out an arm towards her, to grab her hand.

The dream always stopped there, on the sweet smile of that stunning fairy, filling Eighteen with melancholy every time.

It was a scene extrapolated from nothing, at first glance it had nothing to do with her; however she felt it as a part of her, the woman's voice almost had an hypnotic power over her senses. Eighteen would have gladly said that the it was the first sound she had ever heard since the beginning of time, since her brain had started working.

Eighteen had probably never known her, but she almost felt a deep nostalgia for her.

Every time she looked at Seventeen, she thought he was the only person she knew who had dimples and such an unusual combination of colours; inevitably the woman and especially the child on her knees came to mind.

All this puzzled her. It was a distant memory, so distant that the cyborg girl couldn't connect it to anything solid.

If she added the thought of the little shorty, she would have rather shot herself in the head if she could.

Seventeen said he loved the red-haired girl, was it possible that she loved that man?

Every time she thought of him Eighteen trembled, as if she had just witnessed the most beautiful and touching spectacle nature had ever offered. And who knows why: he certainly wasn't handsome. Strong, meh, not comparable to her. Yet something about Krillin undeniably attracted her, perhaps his being different. It seemed his life didn't revolve around fighting, despite knowing how to do it. He looked like a pure-hearted guy, ready to risk his neck for the people he cared about. Even though he knew that the _Cell Games _were no a place for him he had stood by the Saiyans, the friends of a lifetime.

Even though she didn't remember anything about her love life, Eighteen felt she had never found anyone who could give her the true serenity she sought, especially now. Perhaps she realized that after touching death with a finger, living with a person capable of reassuring her could have been her redemption.

She'd been so lucky to still be there after everything she had gone through, between Gero and Cell: life was not to be wasted. And some occasions only happened once.

That was the way the twins spent most of their moments, and for the first time each did it for themselves.

-Look, Seventeen, I wanted to tell you something. A big deal.-

Eighteen took her time: -Do you think there's a future for me? With anyone?-

-With the garden gnome, you mean? Look, aren't you already involved with me?-

-Don't you dare make fun of him!-

The boy vainly ran a hand through his hair: -In my opinion, if you run a finger over his bald head it goes _gneek gneek _, just like a clean window.-

Eighteen grabbed a strand of hair and pulled it hard, ignoring his protests. That's what long hair like his was for. When had he ever cleaned a window, that one?

She was amazed at what had just come out of her mouth, and explained to her brother that she believed to feel for Krillin the same thing he felt for his redhead.

-I see,- he reckoned, -so we'll split up.-

Eighteen's breath grew anxious: -No, in that eventuality we would only live in different houses; remember that you are the most important thing I have.-

Maybe the time had come for them to go their own way. After all, as she had already pointed out, it would only be about living in two different houses.

-You know, I think I have a goal: I don't know what will become of our life now, but I know that I have come too close to death; I don't want to deal with it anymore, either as a victim or a killer.-

Eighteen felt like suffocating, recalling the moment when _death _had paced towards her, with the appearance of an enormous being with mottled skin:

-I believe Krillin has something to offer me. Don't you see how different he is from us? Maybe I can live in peace if I choose to give him a chance. I couldn't do anything as I did before, whatever it was, not after almost crossing the line. Do you understand me?-

Seventeen got it perfectly. Although he had not yet expressed it, not even conceptually, it was clear that he too would never pursue the goal for which Dr. Gero had converted him into a machine.

He too had a goal. _She _and Sixteen, he would find them. 

-I'm tired of standing here in the fields, picking weeds- she said with a smile -let's find us a city to hang out.-

-Agree. Now that I think about it I haven't had anything to eat in forever, tummy's rumbling.- Seventeen replied absently, peering at the sky.

He believed he heard something flying: -What was that, did you hear? Up there.-

Eighteen looked into the clouds, where her brother was pointing. It was irritating not to be able to feel the ki as Krillin, Vegeta, Piccolo did...

But they couldn't fix that defect, so they stayed for a while looking at the clear sky decorated with dense, full, cotton-like white heaps, never knowing if something or someone had just passed there.

/

He had awakened with the sun shining on his heavy suit, warming it up. It was a perfect sunny day, bright, twenty-two degrees, high pressure. Although his sensors had told him everything he needed to know about the environment around him, he enjoyed to feel the heat of the sun on the mass of his supine body.

The large, white stone-paved ring was gone: what had been a beautiful prairie outside Central City was now dead earth, a no man's land desecrated by huge chasms and dotted with cliffs reduced to piles of stones. There was no more life around there.

Optical sensors and scanners had told him he was functional, "alive". His last memory was of the foot. The foot that crushed him and before that his own conscious smile, with which he had embraced the end.

He did not know where to find Son Goku, he could not feel his power anywhere. He should have started his quest all over again, even though he knew that Dr. Gero's goal no longer concerned him. Not after all he had experienced. Having memories and remembering experiences was extraordinary for him who wasn't even supposed to live, but only sleep in a capsule like the total failure he was; that was the least complex label, the simplest of the reasons that mad scientist had kept for himself.

Then they had come into his life_, _an impertinent boy with provocation etched in his eyes and a haughty girl, frail in her indestructible skin.

Numbers 17 and 18 had given him the chance to experience what was called _life _for humans - or even cyborgs - but was simply _being active _for him_._

He had seen them die. First Seventeen, then Eighteen. He had tried everything to protect them, but it hadn't sufficed.

He was later taken by Krillin to the Capsule Corp. headquarters where Dr. Briefs and his daughter Bulma had repaired him. Looking at his suit he noticed that the Capsule logo was still glued on top of the Red Ribbon's. He had reappeared on Earth even better than he looked when he had left it, again as he had been before Cell destroyed him with a _ki blast._

This was the strangest thing, that his circuits didn't make sense of. And being the Briefs _another _memory still miraculously intact in his processor, he decided that the scientists were the point from which he had to start again. After all, if they had been able to fix him once, they could also have explained him how it was possible for him to exist again.

The clouds ran fast in the sky above him, a deep quietude invaded him.

Sixteen hovered in the air, flying fast in the direction of West City; the urgency made him forget, for that time, to admire the view beneath him.

/

Dr. Briefs sat in the living room of his substantial house, watching cartoons in the company of his grandson. Bulma was out in town for dinner; she was enjoying some time with her husband, who recently returned home after the battle with Cell, miraculously alive.

When the ringing at the door reached the baby boy's ears, sparking his curiosity, Dr. Briefs had to make an effort to hold him still. He was still very young, but he already seemed much stronger than his daughter had been at that age:

-Did you hear that, Trunks? Someone rang the bell.-

Doctor Briefs held the boy in a secure grip as he walked down the mansion's hallway, before peering into the intercom screen:

-N.16! Why are you here? Come on in.-

The android had to bend down to go through the door.

-Ah-tah!-

Little Trunks greeted the new guest with an absolutely serious expression, raising a chubby arm in the air as if he wanted to give him a high five.

Sixteen smiled humbly at Trunks, without wasting any more time in anxious preambles:

-Cell destroyed me. I woke up on the Cell Games site. I'm still functioning.-

Ever since that time Dr. Briefs invited him to come into the house, Sixteen stuck with them. The family encouraged him to stay; he had nowhere to go, moreover they had already ascertained that the giant was harmless to them, although as a precaution the doctor and his daughter gave him a second check-up. They didn't find the bomb which they had removed themselves; Sixteen had come back to life in the same _format_ they had left him.

The scientists had told him Son Gohan had killed Cell; after that, one of their friends must have made a wish to the dragon Shenron, a wish that had brought all of the monster's victims back to life.

Sixteen had been a victim of Cell. For a moment he hoped it meant that Seventeen and Eighteen were also alive, but then he remembered that the two of them weren't mere victims of the Creature: the moment they had been Cell's prey, they _had_ _become _Cell. And if the monster had been destroyed, his friends had also died with him.

The thought saddened Sixteen. He felt sadness in him, if not in his mechanical heart then in some other indefinite place.

In that huge house, the android had all the tranquillity he could wish for. There was also an equally huge garden where he loved to sit and look at the sky, to watch the animals. Since he could sit still for hours, the city birds -pigeons, sparrows, blackbirds, crows- perched on his big body.

Even the house cat had returned to find him, remembering him. He curled up in his hand with his tail hanging down.

Sixteen thought that was the quintessential joy of being alive.

One day he had wanted to venture outside the boundaries of the Briefs home and found a garden in the city. He had been intrigued by some swans gracefully sliding over the body of water where people rowed on small boats. He had entered waist-deep into the water to caress those animals totally new to him, white and graceful but croaking and ready to bite him. The keeper had wasted his breath in an attempt to ask him to get out of the boating lake; then the police had taken him to the precinct, with the excuse of not having obeyed the officers who had ordered him to join them on the shore. Swans could not be touched, it was forbidden.

The agents were perplexed by his name and Bulma had to go and fetch him, apologizing embarrassed by that stubborn vagabond:

"_My husband's cousin isn't from here, I'm sorry!"_

"_No problem, Dr. Briefs!"_

Vegeta was irritated by the presence of the android in his house: that was _his _territory, the place where he lived with _his _wife and _his _son. A place where enemies were not welcome. Ever since his wife and in-laws had invited the tin man to stay, he had spent even more time training alone in the gravity room.

Sixteen didn't need the Briefs' company. When he was not in the garden he stayed quiet in the old scientist's laboratory. Sometimes even the young of the house crawled towards him and clung to one of his mighty legs, observing him with a mixture of wonder and fun as if he understood that Sixteen was special, different from all the other adults he had become accustomed to.

He learned the habits of humans by observing the Briefs' lifestyle. In the evening, once the boy had gone to bed, the doctor and his wife retired to the bedroom and the lady doctor enjoyed some reading while watching a podcast, _Women for the Future, _on TV_._

A habit that Vegeta did not approve of:

-Why do you always watch rubbish? What about me wanting to watch a movie?-

-You'd have all the time. It's not rubbish, it's that podcast I was invited to.-

Being one of the finest minds of her time, CEO of Capsule Corp. and still quite young, Bulma Briefs had been quickly invited by the podcast producers to inspire other brilliant minds to make a difference in the world. She had talked about her inventions and the audience had skyrocketed after she revealed her dream to build a time machine, that time they'd called her to discuss the _Cell situation _: by then almost everyone on Earth knew that one had been a heinous terrorist, but they wanted to understand what weapons he had used to carry out massacres of that magnitude. He seemed to have been in possession of technology superior to the one of the Royal Militia.

Bulma had almost panicked, cornered to provide an explanation the Earthlings might have believed, off the top of her head.

After her other women had been interviewed. Every evening there was a different profile, from whiz kids to actresses and female soldiers. The last had been the young daughter of _the world champion, _who had confessed to the microphone all her determination to follow in her father's footsteps, a determination that was already making her a promise in the field of martial arts.

-Poor thing, all fuss, all illusions. What if I go and tell that little brat that her father is a huge scam? What do the Satans know about training, martial arts, what does the world know!-

Since the episode with the daughter of Mr. Satan, Vegeta hadn't endured any more of that programme made to impress Earthlings without real strength. Every time Bulma watched it, he left with a snap of his tongue. Bulma paid no attention: if he was the Prince of the Saiyans, that was _her_ house. Someone who worked as hard as she did had the right to watch whatever she pleased at the end of the day.

One evening Vegeta couldn't avoid catching a glimpse of the podcast before slacking off. He called out Bulma in an angry voice:

-What's she doing in the podcast? That goddamn cyborg.-

The whole family ran to see. Bulma and her parents watched without being able to answer him. That night's episode involved another CEO, the head a network of anti-violence centres in the Central City district.

-Look at her! Tell me if it's not that big bitch.-

When Bulma came to the room and looked at the TV, she saw a woman dressed with class; she occasionally smiled while talking, and when she did two dimples appeared on her cheeks. Her aquamarine-clear eyes struck like knives, and not only because of their tremendous screen presence; they seemed frightened but also hardened and strong, as if she had gone to war.

Even though Bulma had never seen the cyborgs and could not compare them, that CEO's profile was too different from the one of a cybernetically enhanced assassin. And then from what she knew, the cyborgs were much younger than that entrepreneur appeared.

If instead it really was n.18, Bulma could understand why Krillin had completely lost his head: that woman radiated extraordinary fortitude but also looked vulnerable, the kind of vulnerability that unconsciously made many Earthling men fall to their knees. The perfect illusion.

Bulma had the wise idea of revealing the arcane by bringing n.16 before the TV, just when the camera was framing the woman with a close-up.

Sixteen looked at her familiar heart-shaped face and elongated eyes, he recorded the image of her neatly-styled hair and taut cheekbones. His scanners communicated the proportions of the woman's face, mathematically very similar to his late friend's, of whom his processors reminded him:

-This woman is not n.18.-

The Saiyan, who had so far ranted at the TV from the throne of his chair, suddenly got up and shoved the android:

-You dare say I'm stupid? That's your precious little cyborg friend: do you think I wouldn't recognize her, even though when I met her her hair was blonde?-

"_If so, then I want to know which salon she went to."_

Bulma chuckled to herself, thinking that the woman's hair could not be more different from what Vegeta was describing: if it wasn't naturally black, then it was a hell of a job. Colourist nailed it!

-Why can't it be her? Come on, tell me.-

The Prince shifted into the android's field of vision, watching him with the smugness of someone who knows to have an unshakable theory on their side.

But Sixteen returned him a serious and cold look, as only an artificial human could do:

-N.18 is dead. I could not help it. This woman is not n.18.-

/

It seemed very strange to Bulma that her husband was so firmly convinced that the woman on TV was cyborg n.18. Even n.16 had told him clear and round!

After all Vegeta was always Vegeta, all the way through his core, and normally Bulma did not give much weight to his pissiness and whims. For that time she had also taken into account the psychological factor in her husband's reaction: n.18 was the woman who had broken bones and pride to a proud Saiyan. As fixated and obsessed as he was, he must see her everywhere now.

However something told her that Vegeta's words weren't so crazy, for once; Bulma knew she wouldn't find out much by typing "cyborg n.18" into the search engine, so she searched for the podcast woman instead. It would have been interesting to find out who she was, since she was brilliant enough to have been invited to the same podcast where she, Bulma Briefs, had spoken.

The night before Bulma had missed out on the episode because of the bickering, but she remembered that woman had done something relevant during the Cell Games.

_"Central City Cell Games CEO podcast women" _shetyped on the keyboard, not remembering her name. The images she found depicted the same very beautiful woman, with a serious and haughty expression; looking carefully at all the photos she dug up, Bulma thought that she was definitely not a blonde gone dark. She found a recent interview and the link to watch the podcast.

That was how the scientist learnt that Kate Lang, that was her name, had financed the construction of refuges to help displaced people during the reign of that _terrorist._

Thanks to her work, from a very young age Bulma had had the privilege of coming in contact with a reality that many of her fellow humans, almost all of them, totally ignored: aliens, superhuman powers, monsters and magic spheres were part of her everyday life.

But still being _one of them_, she often thought about what had to go through the heads of those poor wretched humans who, from time to time, witnessed tragedies of the calibre of a mass extinction without ever understanding why. So she was amazed at their creativity and presence of mind: that Kate Lang had not only helped to find places where people in crisis could stay, but she had also thrown together an initiative to help them on a practical level.

Bulma rewatched part of the podcast:

"_How did you come up with the idea of __setting up a__n "escape__ parcel" service?"_

"_With__ the beginning of this _Cell situation, _phone_ _calls to my cent__res__plummeted__. And around the __time__ of the _Cell Games_, when everyone was __basically__ under curfew, I had to do something to help those who were trapped at home with__ someone abusive__; since in those circumstances the people __in__ need could not come to the __centre__, we brought the __centre __to them. I had plans to launch my latest project after the end of __the_ Cell situation, _but thanks to those who believed in us we were able to start in a moment of extreme need. Now _Escap'Box _will be permanent. " _

Eyebrows up, Bulma listened as the CEO talked about her _Escap'Box _idea_. _She had donated boxes containing essentials to families who had been affected by Cell's cruelty, but also others containing vouchers for a train ticket and other escape equipment for those who unfortunately had to choose between fleeing a mad terrorist or an abuser. Even now after Cell's defeat, that idea born from a loving mind in a situation of fear and uncertainty was there to stay. It was a nice contribution to society.

Bulma had stayed to look at Kate Lang's close-up again, mesmerized by those incredible eyes.

_"Nothing __matters like__ loved ones. And my wonderful __partners__ and I have worked hard to help you."_

Bulma continued to scroll with the mouse and came across another web page about that same woman: she had participated in an episode of the show _I__ Will Find You _three years earlier. 

Reading the story of that poor mother who had lost her children overnight, a boy and a girl only eighteen years old, tugged at the scientist's heart. The kids had disappeared into thin air and she had never found them again. They were kidnapped and killed.

"_T__hree years she no longer has her children with her and she still finds the strength to do good to perfect strangers?"_

Bulma used that reading as a reminder for when she was tempted to think that, compared to the various Saiyans, Namekians, androids and cyborgs, the Earthlings were weak and pitiful: not all strength was measured in _ki, _andif the fortitude of that human woman had been _ki _, Bulma was sure she could carry the world on her shoulders. 

She suddenly winced when she saw, included in an article, a photo of Kate Lang's two children:

"_I suppose that when it comes to physical similarities there are two types of parents and children: Vegeta and Trunks, and she and her twins."_

Both had taken after Kate Lang and looked very alike, but while the boy shared the same jewel tones as the mother, the girl was blonde. She was a beautiful cat-eyed girl, surely she would have turned Bulma's head in a room. Her appearance seemed memorable enough for someone like Vegeta to remember...

-Sixteen! Papa!-

Without getting up from the chair in her study, Bulma stood in suspense until the android entered the room, Trunks and the cat in his arms.

-What are you doing there, you? Come here.-

When the mother took Trunks from the arms of the big android, the baby started to cry, stretching his hands towards "Se-hee".

What was that? Now her beloved baby son preferred that kind of hippie dressed in green to his mother! Bulma wondered if Sixteen could see and understand that she felt offended.

But he remained respectfully aside, until Bulma asked him the question point blank, turning the monitor in his direction, holding the pointer over the girl's photo:

-Sixteen, I need you to look carefully and give me the answer you think is right: is this girl n.18?-

Then Bulma saw an expression she would never have believed possible for an android, not even for a super advanced model like n.16: an expression of dismay, emotion and affection.

Incredulous, Bulma watched Sixteen run to hold the monitor which in his hands looked like a tablet, doing nothing but repeat a word, a name:

-_Eighteen__.-_


	10. A pink Shirt, the Commando and the RNP

The twins didn't know where they had wound up. They had flown for a while in search of a city but had not yet found the one that felt right for them. For a while toy could only see medium-sized towns and villages, definitely unsuitable places for landing and going unnoticed: those were probably the kind of places where everyone knew each other and a set of twins with jet black and platinum blonde hair and identical ice-blue eyes were certainly a sight that attracted attention, more attention than they wanted at the time. They stared at the never-ending flat landscape, until they flew over a metropolis.

-What is that?-

Eighteen did not know how to identify the city, but Seventeen stopped suddenly in mid-air, straight above a very tall tower. It was a skyscraper ending in a large dome. He flew down until his feet touched it. A rather impatient Eighteen followed him:

-We landed right here, probably everyone saw us. Thank you, Seventeen. Really.-

-Shut up. This is West City, we're at the top of _Dream World _, here it's too high to see us and therefore there's no reason for that tone of yours.-

The boy sat cross-legged on _Dream World_. He remembered that place because he'd already been there. When? _Before, _obviously. Somewhere in that damned life that Gero had wiped from his memory, yet forgetting some pieces and bits. It was precisely those _pieces _that exhausted him; Dream World was just another reminiscence, another bit that did nothing but go around his head without finding its place, unnecessarily tormenting him. Ever since Seventeen had regained consciousness and remembered the dreams he'd had during Cell's captivity, he couldn't rest. He had tried not to show it to Eighteen to be left alone, but he felt upset and irritable. Obviously Eighteen had noticed: it was easy to understand Seventeen's moods, especially when he had already declined two occasions to get his teeth into something. Not one, _two._

If he was so nervous he didn't even want to eat, Eighteen thought it must be really bad. She approached him as he scanned the horizon with a grim look, his chin resting on his knees. She spoke to him in a jovial tone:

-Tell me a little bit about _Dream World_, what is it?-

-An amusement park.-

-And have you been there?-

-Probably.-

-What do you remember?-

-A plush snake. It was very ugly.-

Eighteen chuckled at that unexpected response and leaned her head against her brother's shoulder. He seemed to appreciate her presence.

-All right. We are in West City, what do we do now?-

The boy did not reply, he had no intention of giving up his tantrum. He would have kept on doing nothing until some of the mess in his head cleared up. It might take a long time...But he suddenly noticed, far away as the crow flies, an endless expanse of cars of all kinds and types winking at him. A parking lot.

His eyes shone.

By the time the careful Eighteen understood his intentions, Seventeen was already in flight.

/

Kate had worked hard to make her contribution to the world during the _Cell Games _, that period of sheer madness that had ended with more madness. But even if the fallen had inexplicably returned and she felt happy for those who lost and then found each-other again, she didn't feel completely touched: if Lapis and Lazuli had died, she had not been there with them. How could anything else count? Kate now felt close to rock bottom, to the _nothing _she feared so much. She could no longer smile spontaneously, she could no longer shed a tear or pay proper attention to the events that happened around her.  
She heard her cell phone vibrate and read apathetically the invitation of "Ronan the podcast guy" for dinner on the following Saturday; already? Kate was in no hurry, that TV producer could also have waited.

When she was asked to take part in the podcast, Kate had decided she had nothing to lose talking about _Escap'Box _and her anti-violence network _Tomorrow:_ she would have once again declared that if that Cell was dead violence was alive and always thriving, and she would not have given up on the front line in that fight. Since she had failed as a mother, she didn't want to fail as a woman too. The world and her city had a desperate need for struggles against violence, especially since that plague of the Commando Magenta had eaten away a piece of Central City. 

It was a scourge that had come before Cell but was still there. Every time Kate thought about her children, it made sense that the cursed Commando could very well have to do with their disappearance: in the last few years officer Bruno Weiss himself had risked a great deal trying to track them down.  
Coming home, Kate noticed from afar the silhouette of a man on the porch of her house: not having seen her come, he kept knocking on her door, then walking back and forth with his hands in his pockets.

-Open the door! Mother of cyborgs, open up!-

Kate was struck by his short-sleeved baby pink shirt and his hair reaching up for the sky, challenging the force of gravity. As soon as he noticed the noise of Kate's heels on the sidewalk, the man turned around and looked at her with a look as hard and compact as obsidian.

-Can I help you?-

The man seemed to want to knock the door down with his fists and Kate spouted those words out of pure courtesy; but in truth she felt uneasy before those eyes so angry, and that threatening attitude.

-Heck, you look just like her. No, like them: if the cyborgs merged together, they would be you.-

Vegeta grew nervous to see that the mother too was taller than he. And his attitude worsened seeing the look of bewilderment on her face. At the bottom of that bewilderment was, perhaps, even derision: that human was probably wondering who that strange little man hanging out outside her house was, telling her things she didn't understand.

While the man rummaged in his pocket, Kate sneaked her taser out of her pocket and activated it, concealing it behind her back. She didn't stop staring at him when, with his free hand, he opened a folded sheet of paper and gave it to her. It was a printed photo.

-17 and 18 are twins, aren't they?- Vegeta watched her gape, while the distrust/derision melted in her eyes -you have to tell me where they are, I want a rematch with them.-

-With whom?-

-With your children, woman!-

Before Kate could escape, scream or realize what was going on, the short flame-haired man got at her.

He squeezed her so tight that no matter how hard Kate tried, she could not escape him: he was holding her by the waist, pressed against his side as he ran and seemed insensitive to the shock of the taser on his chest.

-Help! Quick!-

The only option she had was screaming at the top of her lungs, but the people who witnessed the scene were dumbfounded. Tossed by his run, Kate did not understand: it was impossible for anyone to be so strong, no one could still be running after being tased, let alone _run and carry_ another person! Kate stopped hurting herself in the attempt to punch him and involuntarily hugged him when she felt that her feet no longer touched the ground. When she opened her eyes, Kate realized that what she saw below was Central City.

They were flying.

WAS SHE FLYING?

She raised her eyes, tortured by the wind on the man who flew fast; his shaggy, coarse mop blew in the wind flag style. Kate had lost her taser; she started screaming and beating him again, until she thought she heard a hoarse laugh.

Still holding her firmly, Vegeta hit that serial howler on the back of the neck. She passed out instantly.

"You _struggle to the last, huh? I appreciate your will, but I'd rather go home in peace. "_

Feeling that long, thin body become a dead weight, the prince rested it on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and flew on, to his house.

/

As soon as he had found his wife, his father-in-law and the android before the computer Vegeta had asked them to tell him who Kate Lang was, where she lived and who was n.18 for her. Once the photo of her children Lapis and Lazuli (no doubt cyborgs 17 and 18) was printed, he had discreetly taken leave and shortly after the whole Briefs family had heard the small shock wave caused by the prince taking off. Sixteen had followed him, flying off. Vegeta had been too fast for Sixteen to keep up, so when his sensors informed him that Central City was near, the android landed in the first block he found.

It looked like an old suburban area. It was a place that howled when the wind passed through its old and shabby skyscrapers. No one walked the streets; many of the entrances to those skyscrapers were bolted with rusty shutters, or with wooden planks nailed carelessly. Although everything seemed deserted, Sixteen's thermal scanners told him that many people were watching him from behind those dark windows, from behind corners and dumpsters.

Sixteen had not seen much of Earthlings, how they lived and what the rules that marked their existence looked like, but he was sure that block was not _a normal place_ _where humans lived. _The scanners also informed him of a huge amount of firearms, stashed where the humans were hiding. 

He noticed a building newer than the others, full of people. On the untouched glass door there was a red emblem in which the android distinguished letters C and M.

As soon as Sixteen stopped to study it, the door opened and three armed humans went to meet him. They seemed almost frightened by the size of the individual they found themselves in front of: far over two metres tall, with a mohawk, hoop earrings and sharp, prominent features.

-What are you doing here, slim? Nobody comes and goes in the headquarters of the Commando.-

But he was not dangerous: big, dumb and even unarmed. One of the men laughed and turned to the open door:

-Hey, boss! Come here, there's a decision to be made.-

The man brought his gaze back to Sixteen: it was not his call to decide what to do with him, but no one ventured shamelessly into the heart of their territory to then go and tell every detail to the police. It had never happened and never it would have happened. Nobody who wasn't the Commando had ever come out alive.

-I want to know if I'm in Central City. Where's Central City?-

Sixteen continued to look down, in the face of his interlocutors who did not answer him; he saw them greet with a nod a fourth person standing in the doorway of the building, cigarette in one hand and assault rifle in the other.

-Boss, did the cops send him?-

One of the henchmen approached the gang leader, whispering in her ear. But the boss didn't seem to worry about the visit of that extraordinary work of genetics.

-I don't know what the best answer is, _Big Ginger. _This _was _a piece of Central City before. Until three years ago, when we were still competing for it with the Blacks. But then we got lucky, the Blacks disbanded and now everything you see belongs to me. I'm Cloe, Cloe Mafia. Welcome.-

Sixteen did not shake the hand that the young woman held out to him. He gazed at her symmetrical cheeky face, her endearing eyes delicately enhanced by black make-up; then the woman stopped laughing with her eyes and she withdrew her hand with a sigh.

-My men from the Commando Magenta now control the whole suburb. You must be new in the city, everyone knows whose place this is. Sneaking where even the cops have to be very careful is admirable. Guys, let's give a round of applause- Cloe incited the three men who had gone to meet Sixteen to clap loudly -a round of applause for the courage of...? -

-Android n.16.-

-Are you an android? And I am the King!-

Sixteen had spoken more than he intended to do. It was clear that Vegeta and the mother of Seventeen and Eighteen were not there. He was about to turn on his heels, but more men came out of the building and held him still, while Cloe approached:

-I am truly the king of this city. What do I care about that old foolish dog, all is mine here. This is how things work: now you have challenged me by entering my territory and you will taste my hollow point bullets, my chosen weapon, they have taken so many people for me. Then I will go and find your family, I don't make exceptions, give me a few hours and I will find them. Even the children. Got it?-

-You don't respect this planet. Do you kill children?-

-Mm, it happens- Cloe smiled with downcast eyes -but they are maddening! That kid I dropped in a tub of lye some time ago, God, the way he screamed...I keep hearing that piercing little voice in my ears.-

Sixteen did not know how to react to those words: since he had been activated he had known cruelty only through Cell. He did not think that humans could be like that too. With his circuits struggling to work on such issues, Sixteen convinced himself that the only difference between Cell and this woman was that she didn't have the power of the former. But their souls were equally dark in his eyes.

-Now I have to say goodbye to you, _Android n.16 _. You are no longer welcome.-

At the signal from the boss, all the henchmen let go of Sixteen and retreated into the building just before Cloe hit him with a volley of bullets: Sixteen was shot in the head, chest, shoulders. Cloe laughed as she fired. She fired until all she saw was a cloud of dust. Anxious to see a large battered corpse on the ground, she dropped the rifle and waited for the dust to disappear. But she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw that body still standing, without a sign of her precious bullets. He was standing there, now looking at her with disapproval. Faster than the woman's reflexes, Sixteen grabbed the rifle from the ground and snapped it between his fingers, like a twig. He turned his gaze to the sky, sensing the presence of a known fighting force, just before seeing Vegeta hurtling back towards West City.

He didn't want to waste any more time there with the Commando Magenta, but before flying away he shot an icy look at Cloe:

-You'll get yours, sooner or later. It is not for an android like me to slaughter someone like you, but I hope you will find yourself cornered against someone who's not on the same page as me.-

The handful of delinquents watched the giant rise and disappear, not fully understanding what they had just witnessed.

/

Bulma always said that after living a few years with Vegeta, there was nothing more he could do to surprise her. So the shock made her jump on her chair, unprepared to what she saw, while she sat in the kitchen quietly feeding baby Trunks.

Her husband broke into the room through the back door. On his face he had the usual angry expression; he was holding something, someone.

-Vegeta! What have you done? Who is that?-

Trunks started to cry when his father slammed the door and now he was crying even louder, left alone at the table by his mother. Bulma followed to help the unconscious woman lying face up into the prince's arms. Her neck was a big bluish bruise.

Bulma recognized Kate Lang's straight black hair: -Why is she here?-

-She didn't want to talk. At least here we can calmly discuss.-

Not doing it out of spite, Vegeta's mind began to wander while Bulma's lecture came muffled to his ears, as if he had closed himself in a capsule. Which he honestly wanted to do: he didn't kill that woman, damn it! He had only knocked her out because she couldn't stand her shouting anymore. Of course, that light blow to the neck could have severed her spinal cord or crushed some vertebrae, but it didn't happen. You never knew how to handle them, those Earthlings. Maybe this _Kate _was not Krillin or Yamcha, she couldn't tank hits from a Saiyan without snapping a bone. She was like his wife.

Vegeta came back down to Earth just in time to see Bulma holding her cell phone while her father attempted to take the woman from his arms:

-Leave it, I'll take her downstairs.-

"Hello? Yes Krillin, please bring me a senzu, even a half."

Dr. Briefs also used his laboratory as an infirmary and Bulma watched the men in the house go down the stairs.

"Vegeta has made a mess, once again. Ah, while you are here, you have to see her. And talk to her. She is the mother of n.17 and n.18. "

/

While the Briefs were knee-deep into a sticky situation and, somewhere in the world, the twins were beginning to think of their own future for the first time, someone else knew perfectly well where to go and was pursuing their future methodically, calmly and with professional determination. In the North City university Carly strove to achieve her goals; since she had been a student there her internships had been mostly unpaid apprenticeships within a large institution a stone's throw from the city: the _RNP _was a vast wildlife reserve, perhaps the largest in the world, a famous place that Carly had seen many times on TV.

During these short trainings she had already had the opportunity to study properly her chosen animal, the giant alpine eagle. Shortly after Gage's departure in the spring, her third round had started.

Carly knew her days would be full that time too, but that she would also live more intensely: every time she was in that wonderful place to learn useful things for her work and for the writing of her thesis, she felt more serene and was convinced that, perhaps, she had found peace.

-We hope that I will continue to see you here. Who knows, maybe there will be a full-time job for you.-

It was only rumours that Leni, the head of human resources, had reported to her after a meeting with other executives. Carly intended to work even harder to secure that position and her future; she also liked to spend time with Leni, who had become a friend of hers, traineeship after traineeship, and with whom she didn't feel the ten-year gap.

Leni wasn't the only person Carly had interacted with in there. There were other veterinarians and zoologists, she met them every day; it was nice to have a chat with them but they were just temporary colleagues on whom Carly didn't invest the time necessary to establish relationships.

During her tours in the park Carly had also met botanists and tour guides, as well as park rangers. With their rifles at the ready the latter did not inspire her any sympathy, except for one: John was a gentleman in his sixties with very short and very white hair, his nose was always red. He was kind and easy-going, when tourists passed by the various places where he was stationed he invited them in for a coffee. He had given Carly an old book about the birds that populated the area of Great Eden and even made her a nice fir-tree hiking stick:

-The light metal ones with the ergonomic handle are the best, but at least this will remind you of us when you are in university.-

Carly had never owned something hand-carved, the stick would have become a family heirloom. She would have liked to spend more time with John, who was a mine of interesting information, a true mountaineer. But often with him there was his apprentice, a girl at least fifteen centimetres taller who when spotting Carly even from afar every time shouted _"hey cupcake!" _. 

The apprentice, the _top ranger_, was apparently the star among the stars for the fact that she had been the first girl to win that title and keep it for two years. And everyone expected that she would continue to do so, because she did her job better than anyone else, with extraordinary efficiency. John was very proud of her even though he never exceeded in praising her. That girl was _annoying_, even if Carly managed to avoid her if she avoided John during working hours.

So, for various reasons, Carly had made true friends only with Leni, who inspired her trust and was, unlike her, an extrovert. In turn, Leni admired Carly's absolute determination and the fact that working with her was a boon: she was reliable and humble but always knew what she wanted. Leni had no doubts that brilliant girl with long ginger hair would be a valuable addition to the zoology team with which she was already collaborating.

When Carly's schedule was free Leni invited her to go hiking with her: she had also made friends with her parents, who knew the park like the back of their hand and had instructed the student on the best excursions. Carly had found a place she liked, near a lake, where a huge comfortable rock always caught the sun. She liked going there with Leni to talk, watch animals with binoculars, rest and take pictures.

They talked about life; Leni told her about her divorce, but despite them being friends it wasn't easy for Carly to open up. She remembered, however, that in the end it was useless to keep all that pain to herself. Talking to someone was safe and even cathartic: she had only mentioned to Gage what had happened with Lapis and the thoughts and memories she had left were extremely personal, some almost indecent. But she had told Leni everything about Gage from A to Z, how she had turned her back on him in the dorm room.

-You are an ambitious girl, are you looking for perfection? That Gage sounded like a good guy.-

-Gage was a good guy. Really good. Do you think he was my opportunity?-

Leni watched Carly shake her head and look down bitterly.

_No._

Leni didn't know her intimately yet, but she realized that the girl was unconscious of being a thrill-seeker:

-My understanding is that you were really fond of this Gage, but nothing more. He didn't stimulate you enough, he was a little...boring. You're not a Prince Charming girl.-

-I actually am.-

-But you don't want the Prince Charming who hoists you on the horse and takes you to the castle. You want the one who says _"all right, but before the castle let's go do something fun"_, a Prince Charming you can give the high five to and steal the bridle from, while he holds you tight and has a couple of laughs with you. Isn't it, Carly?- 

Carly nodded inwardly.

-And that's why Gage never had a chance.-

It was partly true, although she never thought about it:

-I always believed I was someone non-adventurous. I've always had the same haircut.-

-What's that got to do with it? Why else would a city girl have come to the _Royal Nature Park_, objectively less convenient than a city clinic? Why didn't you stay in the city taking care of pets? Because you just love the thrills.-

The two friends stared at the lake, at the ripples the wind wove on its surface.

-So, since Gage was not a good candidate, what's your dream guy like?-

Carly replied with the things she had held tight. In love with her, passionate, sincere, intelligent, playful, he had to make her laugh. Nice eyes, nice smile.

Leni smiled fondly at her: -Wow, really the fully-fledged dream guy.-

Carly's gaze got lost in the waters of the lake. Blue and clear, like the eyes she had never forgotten:

-He was.-


	11. Rattle the Cage

When he heard Bulma's words, Krillin felt his heart explode in his chest.

As with Bulma, absurdity had been a part of his life for a long time and he had made up with it, but there were things that still took his breath away. And one of these had been the conversation he'd had on the phone with his friend.

He hurriedly took the senzu bean bag and rushed off at breakneck speed towards the Capsule Corp. HQ.

"_The mother of Seventeen and Eighteen, the mother of Seventeen and Eighteen ..."_

He mulled over these words, while the sky between the Kame House and West City seemed to never end. Krillin even risked colliding with a plane, thoughtless as he was. He avoided it at the last second.

Even though he was airborne, he could not resist giving Bulma a call:

"Let me see, Vegeta beat her?"

"_No, for Heaven's sake. Apparently he wanted to know where the cyborgs are from and he brought her here by force."_

Vegeta kidnapping a human woman to find the cyborgs? Ah sure, the two didn't have _ki_ the _Z Warriors _could feel, so they were impossible to find. And evidently the Saiyan did not want to search blindly. Bulma could not see Krillin's face, but guessing that her little bald friend must be groping in the dark she told him about the podcast. Of how Vegeta had mistaken Kate Lang for 18, how she had discovered that Kate was the mother of a set of human twins who looked exactly like the cyborgs.

"_Android __16 confirmed it."_

"_16? Is he alive?"_

"_Apparently you revived him. You know, when you asked Shenron to clean up Cell's mess. He's still in Central City, he followed Vegeta when he went to get Miss Lang."_

When he arrived at Bulma's house she, out of breath, led him to the bed where the mother of the woman who had stolen his heart lay asleep.

Krillin winced: even like that, dishevelled, with an orthopedic collar and a cable that measured the heartbeat attached to her finger, she was the portrait of her daughter. Of her children.

The warrior felt immensely stupid. He could not understand how he could not immediately see that the cyborgs were blood relatives, as alike as they looked. But in truth, that the girl who made him experience the mythical _coup de foudre_ had a twin, cyborg too, was a thought that had never crossed his mind. When he was confronted with them Krillin had thought of nothing but playing and finding resemblances.

-What's he doing here now? My house is not a lazaret!-

Sitting at Kate's bedside, Bulma snorted. The world did not revolve around him:

-And good afternoon to you, Vegeta.-

The prince sat somewhere in the room, looking around without interest.

Once she got hold of the senzu, Bulma chopped it up and dissolved it in a drip. Soon those present saw Kate Lang sit upright with a sigh. She looked scared, disoriented. Krillin thought he saw again the twins' awakening up at Kami's Lookout.

But the fright soon turned into anger and the woman looked scathingly at the first person on which her gaze had fallen:

-Let us go. Immediately.-

The senzu had repaired her minor injuries; Kate tore off the collar with a cold dry gesture and, seeing that she was still fully dressed, she headed towards Vegeta, walking past Krillin and Bulma without even looking at them. The man in the pink shirt laughed loudly and returned that same look, not intimidated by her harsh voice:

-Tell me where the cyborgs are, how many times do I have to ask you? Let's see who breaks first.-

Kate remembered what the guy had been ranting about before he carried her up in the air and she lost consciousness. The photo of her children, those words without context, _cyborgs, the cyborgs, _which he repeated to no end. But when she heard him talk so much about her children, doubt had invaded her. A doubt that made her fists clench and eyes tighten.

The prince left that: he was absolutely calm when she took a glass alembic from a work surface and shattered it, slamming it with a grunt against his forehead.

-Was it you?...Did you take Lapis and Lazuli, my children? Give them back to me!-

Krillin's eyes widened when he heard the woman fearlessly calling Seventeen and Eighteen with the names _she _had given them. The young man realized in an instant how profound the impact of his wish had been: those two had beenhumans _for real_, regular people, children of a mother. He had freed them from a bomb, given them the chance to meet their mother again if they wanted to. That woman, standing there fighting in the name of a love without limits, had given them life inside her womb and given birth to them, she had seen them grow. Krillin had a sudden overwhelming feeling; a feeling that made him feel closer to Eighteen.

-See, Krillin, who her daughter took after?-

Vegeta shook off the shards, while Kate felt a strange unease fill her once again. That the man seemed invulnerable: the glass she'd shattered on his face had done nothing to him. The prince turned to the woman and grabbed her by the collar.

-Do you even know who I am?- he bellowed -how dare you?-

Bulma and Krillin watched, ready to intervene but also thrilled by that exciting scene:

-Hey, Bul, shouldn't we do something?-

Bulma was surprised by Kate Lang's aloofness, while the alien who could have killed her with one hand shook her hard.

-I couldn't care less about who you are: but if you took Lapis and Lazuli, you'll answer to me. You don't take children away from their mothers. Never _ever_.-

At that moment the human woman's eyes were so cold and sharp that she could have passed for a killing machine too. Unexpectedly, those lapidary words made Vegeta think.

He found himself musing about Cell murdering Mirai Trunks, about his own despair: at that moment, he too had been a parent who had lost a child. His reaction had been sudden, crystal clear in his mind. At that moment he had wanted to annihilate the monster, to do everything in his power to avenge his son. _That __woman_standing there was a mother who had lost _two _children. For once, Vegeta gave up his anger. He closed his eyes and let go: 

-I have nothing to do with it, you loony bitch. It was Dr. Gero, but it doesn't matter anymore. 17 killed him, I saw him do it.-

-Who's 17?-

-Your son, goddamn! He cut his head off with one blow.-

/

Kate felt empty.

She was not a murderer, she had never taken a life. Yet, in finding herself before the man she had believed to be the tormentor of her children, she thought she could have done it: she was a mother, there was _nothing _in the world she wouldn't have done for them.

Killing was just one item on that list.

But shortly afterwards her castle had fallen; Vegeta had declared his innocence and she had believed him instantly. Despite being threatening and grumpy, the flame-haired man didn't _have it _in his eyes. Even if she didn't want to believe it, Kate hadn't read that horrible crime on his face. He didn't do it.

All that she had left was a handful of inert anger. Once again.

Depressed, she had dropped onto the bed where she had woken up. She just wished that _Vegeta _and everything that had come out of his mouth were a joke.

Kate wanted to go back a few hours, when she didn't know whether or not to accept Ronan's invitation. Before that Vegeta came into her life, causing her even more trouble, even more tears: Kate could no longer understand what to feel afflicted for. Her brain refused to believe.

Bulma thought she heard her cry quietly.

Kate shrugged her back as she felt someone touch her. She saw the woman who had taken care of her sit by her side again:

-I hope everything will work out, that you'll find your twins again. Maybe they are looking for you too.-

Kate knew she had seen that woman before.

-Bulma Briefs, nice to meet you. This is my business, Capsule Corporation.-

-Doctor Briefs. What an honour.-

Kate squeezed her hand and a small glimmer of joy rekindled her eyes. She had heard about that scientist, someone she had always admired for her intellect, for the fact that she had made her way in a world that was almost a monopoly of men, even managing to be a mother. She was the proof that one mustn't always choose what to sacrifice.

-I heard you speak on the podcast, you know? For what you've done, you're amazing. I feel sorry about Vegeta and all this. I don't know how to apologize.-

Bulma and Krillin found it hard to imagine what was going through the head of that poor mother: in a few minutes she had learnt that her children had become _cyborgs_, that they had murdered their captor and apparently they were alive.

In another of his heroic moments, Krillin took the hands of that _dark Eighteen_:

-I met them, Lapis and Lazuli. I also saw them some time ago...I assure you that they are alive and well, even if I don't know where they are. Warn the police, keep looking for them! They can't be that far, they have to pop out.-

Part of Kate wanted to believe Bulma Briefs and that guy dressed as a Shaolin monk. She wanted to believe he had met them, proof that they had not been killed and that sooner or later she would find them. She wanted it with all her soul.

But hope was dangerous, too many times she had believed in people who thought they had spotted or known them. It had always ended in nothing.

It was natural that Kate would continue her search, but she would not accept help from strangers who were not detectives and policemen.

-Do you want me to take you home? We can go by car, Central City is close enough. Either I or Krillin can, your choice.-

Krillin would do, Kate nodded to Dr. Briefs. Watching her throw the car keys at him, she thought she certainly wouldn't have wanted to fly home.

Going down to the Capsule Corp. garages, Krillin kept repeating that name in his mind: _Lazuli, Lazuli. _Velvety sounds, as sweet as honey.

-Um...Miss Lang, would you like to talk about your kids during the trip?-

The way she looked at him, Krillin understood from whom the cyborgs had inherited the ability to glare knives. Contrary to what he had thought it had nothing to do with their conversion.

The warrior chose one of the cars that Bulma had made available to him. He watched Kate dryly close the door and turn her face away from him:

-_This will be a long __drive...-_

He never told the mother that Eighteen had kissed him and that he had held her close when she didn't even know she was still alive, stroking her face and her hair. He didn't tell her he had risked the world for her, literally. Because Krillin loved her.

He had known he loved her from that moment that seemed long gone, the moment he had stepped on the remote control under her wide-opened eyes.

/

Back on the road. Back in a car.

By the time her brother saw the parking lot, Eighteen already knew she would have to mentally prepare for his tedious obsession. Seventeen had found a SUV and studied its black, matte plating (fine-looking rubbish!) then without warning he had buried his fist in the window and removed the door lock. After tinkering with some cables he had driven off the parking lot, hitting another unfortunate vehicle that stood in the way.

-Where are we going now? Son Goku is dead, I remind you.-

-We have to find a place to stay, don't we?-

They could have gone back to Kame House, where Krillin lived, exactly; Eighteen got intolerant hearing her brother ask questions without thinking. If there was anyone in the world who would have opened their home for them, it was that little man. Driving for driving, oh well...

They drove for a day and a night, well beyond the speed limit, until at some point the car ran out of gas. Eighteen waited for her brother to precede her along the road without sidewalks: discreetly and with satisfaction, she fired an energy blastthat pulverized that piece of junk of an SUV.

The twins didn't know which district they were in now. Eighteen continued to look around thoughtfully. The fog that enveloped her brain was still persistent, but it felt like receiving a blow to the diaphragm when she saw a mastodonic neon sign in the distance.

-Seventeen, do you remember that?-

A shopping centre, the _Star of the Centre._

-Yeah, you and I used to go there at times. And something tells me that we're in the Central City district. Will you come with me to get some food?-

Shortly thereafter the twins were immersed in the noisy chatter of the shopping centre.  
-These can be called clothes!-  
Nobody could notice Eighteen who, as fast as lightning, grabbed whatever she liked from the shelves and shoved it in a bag. She had even taken on the task of getting new clothes for her brother too.  
-Old habits die hard, don't they?-

Seventeen looked at her and laughed: -Even _before _you always had a _magic nanny- _style bag.-

-_Magic nanny, _the hell is _that_?-

The boy stared at her, scandalized:

-_"__Who is she?__"_ The lady who had the power to tidy up rooms with a snap of her fingers and who put everything, even floor lamps, in a bag. It was a movie on a VHS, our mother always sang the song to us when we were kids.-

This time it was she who looked at him with her eyes popping out: Seventeen remembered their mother?

-Of course I don't. But I remember this detail; now come with me get something to eat.-

Eighteen began to go through a pile of sequined tops, unnerved by her own amnesia: she did not remember the _magic__nanny, _but in any case someone who had only that type of "power" was a loser.

/

Seventeen could not stand his sister: he had pleased her, he had let himself be dragged into all of the make-up, clothes and _girly__stuff_ shops there. She had forced him to change, giving him clothes she had stolen a little earlier. With his old clothes in an envelope, he had already been waiting on a bench for ten minutes because _she _had to pee. The cyborg boy looked alternately at his shoes and at the people passing through a glass door opening and shutting on his right hand-side. Beyond the door, a row of ladies sat on large chairs while others did their hair.

_So boring!_Every now and then Seventeen peered inside, looking with amusement at all those ladies with wet and curled hair, some partially hidden by helmets that looked like astronauts'. He turned and noticed his reflection in one of the mirrors. He lingered, looking at it. This was how the woman seated at that very mirror also saw him. For some odd reason, she almost looked like his sister. Then he took off the cap Eighteen had put on his head: what was the point of wearing a hat indoors, during summertime?

The lady kept looking at him. No, now she was _staring at him. _First she looked up at Seventeen's reflection, then she turned around and locked her eyes on him. The cyborg did not take the time to notice their colour. He felt a strange, unfounded agitation, as if he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something told him he had to get out of there. He jumped up and ran away, just as the woman darted out of the hair salon.

_/_

"_Now I__'__ll go back to Seventeen. Poor thing, he's been waiting for me..."_

Eighteen had just come out of the shopping centre's ladies' room: she turned the corner and saw her brother coming towards her with a nervous step. Without saying a word he grabbed her violently by the arm and quickly led her to the exit on the roof.

-Hey, what's wrong? Didn't you want to grab lunch?-

Eighteen followed when he flew away, visibly irritated:

-Seventeen? What the hell is wrong with you?-

-Do not talk to me- he mumbled, without looking at her. 

When the twins saw an abandoned building from above in the countryside, they settled in.

Goodbye Kame House; Seventeen had ruined Eighteen's plans with his attitudes once again.  
In that sort of farmhouse they found pots, tanks of kerosene, blankets, four cots; everything in a room in good condition, the roof was still intact.  
Eighteen was getting hysterical, she couldn't understand what was happening to her brother. Since he had overbearingly taken her away from the shopping centre he hadn't spoken a word to her, she talked to him but he didn't react.

He had torn off his new clothes and put back on his usual ones, had taken a seat on one of the cots and had stayed there, curled up with his face turned to the wall.  
Eighteen used the only weapon left to her, brute strength aside:  
-Come on, Seventeen, look outside: it's raining steaks and cheeseburgers! You're missing out.-  
All she got was him curling up even tighter.

Once he dozed off. For the duration of that mini nap he moaned and kicked, tossing and turning:

-No! Shit!-

It wasn't a real sleep, but Eighteen thought he was dreaming; he threw himself backwards, slamming his head against the wall and leaving some cracks. He managed to get her to laugh.

Still sleepy, Seventeen rubbed an eye and sensed from his sister's posture that she required explanations:

-I dreamt that we were destroying a city. Cool shit, nobody there: a total massacre, just you and I. Then a super saiyan would come, fight us and kill me. He threw a _ki blast _in my balls…- 

Eighteen cackled again. She laughed heartily pointing at him, tears in her eyes:

-Shit, you're weak! A super saiyan, Vegeta?-

-I don't know, but before busting my balls he killed_ you_. He blew you to pieces. Boom.-  
Eighteen immediately stopped laughing.

After that brief episode, Seventeen went back to be cathatonic. His sister was worried it concerned his cybernetic bits: maybe some processor had gone haywire, or maybe he was out of battery.

"_But why __am __I even thinking like this? We are very sophisticated cyborgs, that is, human beings stuffed with circuits and reactors ... "_

Then she became convinced that he must constantly be thinking about his redhead and therefore he was upset. After all, that had been his dominant mood lately.  
Eighteen was bored, so she talked to her brother even though she knew he would not answer:

-How odd: why does such an abandoned place have a renovated and habitable room? And what do those graffiti mean?-  
She had noticed an emblem painted on a wall, it looked like two letters. C and M.

On the third day spent there with Seventeen still throwing tantrums, the boredom was so bad Eighteen couldn't take it anymore.

"_I'll __go __back to the St__ar of the Centre__and__ have some me time__."_

She paid another visit to a shop she liked and spent happy minutes there without the desire to steal, but only to try clothes on and look beautiful. She looked in the mirror while wearing a rapeseed-yellow sundress, twirling discreetly to spin the full skirt.

-Lazuli?-

Eighteen heard someone speak loudly.

-Lazuli.-

Eighteen turned around and saw a girl staring at her, almost in shock. If she wanted a mirror, she could find another one: why did she need to bother her?

-Lazuli, you old bitch! Is that you?-

The girl ran to greet her and squeezed her shoulders, smiling at her:

-Looking as dazzling as always. I really missed you, everything is forgiven.-

Eighteen freed herself from the hold and looked at the young woman with annoyance:

-Who are you? What do you want from me?-

-What do you mean "who"? It's me, Sara.-

Eighteen had never seen that woman, she must have mistaken her for some other _old __bitch_.

-...Always the usual psycho, don't you really remember me? And where did you go, everyone is still looking for you. Your mother is desperate.- 

Her mother?

The confusion in Eighteen's head grew bigger and bigger. She felt that those words had a remote meaning, but the inability to connect them to her reality gave her another panic attack. When that _Sara _approached for another hug, Eighteen pushed her away; Sara slammed against a shelf a few metres behind her, which fell to the ground with a thump and knocked down others, like a domino.

How clumsy. She was anxious...

Troubled by the incredible strength behind that touch, Sara kept her distance from Lazuli but looked at her with melancholic eyes, rubbing her bleeding arm.

-Lazuli, why? You hurt me, look…-

-I don't know who you are, nor do you have any idea who I am. Never talk to me again.-

She ended up taking the yellow dress. Under Sara's disbelieving eyes, Eighteen ran out of the shop so quickly that the displacement of air caused by her passing caused more shelves to fall. The knot in her stomach grew even tighter, harder.

Why, she didn't know either.

But something slowed her run. She sighed, turning to look at Sara who was getting up from the ground. With the air of someone who does not want to give up, Eighteen put a hand in her hair and went back to the shop.

/

Meanwhile, the hours passed in the abandoned building; at one point Seventeen heard yelling and barking, while distant footsteps rumbled up the stairs that led to the furnished room. Even though he was almost falling asleep his superfine hearing allowed him to notice; however, he continued blissfully to ignore everything, even when a group of four men and an aggressive-looking dog noisily appeared in the room and without compliments surrounded him.  
-Hey, you,- said one, starting to poke him forcefully -how did you get in here? Get out now!-  
Rolled up on the cot with his face towards the wall, the cyborg did not move or glance at them.  
-Who is it?- said another.  
The first man continued to touch him persistently:

-This is crazy. Hey you little weasel, get out of here. You are in the turf of the Commando Magenta.-  
He raised his voice and punched him in the shoulder blades. Seventeen did not react.  
-Either you get up immediately or we'll kill you,- snarled a third, making a metallic object clang on the floor.  
-Bullshit. Let's kill him right away.-

The first one who had entered the room shoved aside the man with the metal bat, took it from his hand and swung it aiming for Seventeen's head; the boy blocked it with one hand and stood up, leaving the man stunned.

The only member of the group who had not yet spoken broke his silence, giving a puzzled look at the intruder's face:

-It's a kid!-  
Seventeen glanced quickly and flatly at the group: there were four of them, as he thought.  
They looked like middle-aged bandits, they and wore leather clothes with the CM, _Commando Magenta _emblem_. _They carried various weapons such as chains, knives, metal bats and mallets; one was holding an assault rifle.

The dog snarled and gasped, pulling hard on the cruel chain choking it. Seventeen gave the animal a serious glance.

One of the bandits freed the beast, pushing it roughly with one foot:

-Come on, Botz: maul him!-

But Botz did not attack, as if he understood that the animal in front of him was stronger. When he saw Seventeen raise a hand he instinctively crouched on the ground, yelping and looking up with sweet eyes as he began to trust the caresses he received. Still holding the metal bat steadily, the cyborg looked grimly at the man who had kicked the dog.  
The one holding the other end of the bat was dumbfounded, but he got up quickly and tried to wrestle it from the boy's hand.  
Seventeen gave a mocking smile, pulling lightly on it.  
-I can't believe this asshole.-

Another bandit snorted outraged, loading the rifle and firing.  
He had aimed straight at the cyborg's right eye, but he felt his knees turn to jelly when the bullet smashed like butter on that kid's cornea.  
The boy secured Botz, blinked innocently and with elegant ferocity pounced on the first man who had hit him: with one hand he grabbed him by the jacket and threw him down the balcony; the bandit's faint scream went on until it was replaced by a thud and a _crash _audible only to the cyborg's reinforced eardrums.

Seventeen looked at the others with hard, evil eyes:

-Oops. He slipped.-  
-You're insane!-

The one with the rifle emptied the whole cartridge on Seventeen; he raised an arm and deflected the trajectory of the bullets, some bounced off the wall and others broke in contact with his bare hand. The cyborg struck a bandit with a photon beam; he saw that he was carrying a gun too and borrowed it, suddenly remembering to have lost his own somewhere.

-No! Don't shoot me!-

As soon as he saw the boy coming close, the bandit threw the empty rifle on the ground and raised his hands in surrender.  
Seventeen bared his teeth in a sneer; he put the barrel of the gun against the man's nose:

-Hey, you actually fired first.-

When the bandit ended up on his back, he no longer had a face.  
The one who had been hit by the beam of energy gasped and writhed on the ground, Seventeen had the compassion to finish him with a gunshot: "_He's__ dead anyway." _

The silent one, the last one standing, was shaking; he held a knife in his hand and dropped it. Seventeen prepared for some listless questioning:

-Tell me everything I need to know. Who is the Commando Magenta?-

The man could not look him in the face; if the boss had had wind of even one word he was going to say, it probably would have cost him his life. But at that moment, that young man looming over him _frightened him_.

More, so much more than any Cloe Mafia.

-We are the Central City gang, we are stationed not far from here. Cloe Mafia has been our leader since the times of the Blacks.-

-Who are the Blacks?-

The bandit confessed every detail about the Commando: they controlled the entire drug traffic in the Central City district, on occasion they were also hit men. Their arms dealer and major client was a squire in the Yunzabei Heights; their headquarters included six blocks alone for a total of two square kilometres.

They had gained power after the defeat of the Blacks, a defunct gang no one had ever seen the leaders of. He remembered two figures in black who occasionally attacked the blocks where the lieutenants were stationed, taking all the money. One of the two always ended those raids with shootings that, however violent, never killed anyone. Their luck had changed with an accident:

-We didn't rise to prominence until the day of the train. We clashed with the leaders of the Blacks that day, and Cloe unmasked the girl...she turned her over to the police. Not the actual girl, but her DNA, a hair on her balaclava. Ever since we turned the police onto the Blacks, everything has gone downhill for us. Three years later the leaders disappeared. We...killed the others.-

The bandit was trying to understand the nature of that grim reaper who was squatting his building. He recorded as many details as he could: his face and its angular features, the orange scarf tied around his neck, his pointed canines, the hoop earrings.The boy's icy eyes and his warm breath against his hand. That contrast was chilling to the bandit: a stare cold enough to look mechanical and the heat of a human body _could not _be together, he didn't understand the binomial.

The bandit's was animal fear, the fear felt by the hare before being skewered by the eagle's claws. 

The man had only one thought: just that morning Cloe had held a special meeting and informed all of _h__er__ boys_that the day before she had riddled an intruder with bullets, but he hadn't died. The bullets hadn't even pierced his clothes.

-You...Are you android 16?-

-No. 17, if nothing, and I'm a cyborg. How do you know Sixteen?- the boy roared, kneeling in front of him.

The bandit was so close to his face that he could see a shadow darken his gaze, the pupils dilate.

-I have only heard of him, I swear! Not even Cloe knows where he went. Please, please, I'm just a simple henchman. I didn't hurt the android.-

Seventeen missed a heartbeat. He looked down for a moment and felt happy: Sixteen was alive and was out there, exactly as he thought.

The bandit held his hands up, breathing heavily.

Seventeen had no doubts that Sixteen was unharmed, he was not interested in this _Commando_ _Magenta_. Disgruntled with the bandit's inability to reveal Sixteen's whereabouts and having nothing more to ask, he fired a shot that killed him immediately.

/

Seventeen felt good. He really needed those four crooks! They had given him an adrenaline rush, he felt himself again.  
_"So this was a den of bandits ..."_

He took off his blood-stained black shirt, then had a quick look at the room: there was shrapnel everywhere, three bodies.  
He shrugged and in a flash incinerated the remains of the bandits, he didn't want his sister to know and worry. Then he jumped down onto the cobblestones of the courtyard, where the first one he had killed lay. Smelling dried meat, the cyborg approached the body and took a bag of dog treats from its pocket.

The fall had been remarkable and the man's skull had opened like an egg, splashing brains and blood here and there with an airbrush effect.

"_Yuck__..."_

Seventeen wrinkled his nose: even if he had some machine percentage, even if he had experimented with fun the _Terminator mode _for a few minutes_, _the scene upset his empty stomach. He hastened to destroy even the last trace of that massacre.

In the small room, Botz had come out of his corner and looked at Seventeen with his head tilted.

The boy gave him the treats and remained to caress him. Botz seemed to ask him "do you want to play with me?"

-No sorry. Now I want to rest a little. If you want, stay. See you later.-

Botz enjoyed the last scratches on his neck and lay down on the floor. Having nothing more to do, Seventeen took off his shoes, belt and scarf; he made himself comfortable on the cot and closed his eyes not realizing that, for the first time since he had become a cyborg, he had fallen into a real sleep.

/

Sixteen had seen many more humans than he ever imagined in those few days. He had seen so many shades of Earthlings in a short time, from the joy of the healthy Briefs family to the cruelty of that gangster woman. His processors made him think and rethink about that Cloe: how could a human kill _other humans _with so much lightness?

As he walked thoughtfully through the streets of Central City Sixteen had felt something, a slight increase in power from someone he knew. He didn't know if an android like him could feel hope, but Sixteen _wanted _that energy to belong to one of the cyborgs: he had learned from the Briefs that, for obscure reasons, the two of them had separated from Cell before he was killed, so they were alive and all he had to do was find them.

The signal that had drawn him now had stopped manifesting, but Sixteen already knew where it came from. He flew over the territory of the Commando again, avoiding looking at it, until he reached the countryside.

He saw a lonely building. An old stone house, dilapidated but robust.

Sixteen perlustrated it and found nobody there. Going up to the top floor, he opened a door and gasped in amazement when he saw Seventeen. He was all whole, alive; he lay on his side, his eyes closed, and hadn't noticed him but Sixteen saw that he was fine. He was just sleeping.

At his feet, a large white dog with pink pointed ears was also dozing. Sixteen's movements had been too light and he had no _human __smell_, the dog had continued to snore quietly.

Sixteen thought it was curious that Seventeen could sleep like a human, he had never seen him do it during the days they had spent together around the world, before Cell.  
And the android was surprised by his own emotions, noting that he could have fun: he felt like laughing when he noticed that Seventeen was drooling on the pillow.

He left him alone and sat by the window, waiting for Eighteen.


	12. Only a Phone Call away

_Just before the twins arriv__al__ at the __farm__house ..._

The sun in her eyes and the heat of June were unbearable. There had never been so much traffic on the M1, it seemed that suddenly everyone wanted to go to Central City. Even though they proceeded slowly, Kate was nauseous. With motion sickness one has to look at the road, but she stubbornly wanted to avoid any visual contact with Krillin , even peripheral.

Ever since they left the Capsule Corp. she stayed turned on her side, with the window slightly open.

-Um...Miss Lang, if you wish I could put the AC on.-

Poor thing, that boy. He was trying to strike up a conversation, probably trying to console her and be civilized. He too seemed uncomfortable finding himself dealing with her, even though he hadn't looked at her as if she came from Outer Space. Kate was used to the looks of the people and had always known that she didn't put strangers at ease: her eyes and features did not convey cordiality. However, those who knew her also knew that she was not a cold and haughty person. She no longer was.

Even her daughter Lazuli was exactly like that, plus she was also mischievous: she was intimidating and she harped on it. If this Krillin had really known her children, perhaps he was already familiar with that trait that all three shared.

-Anyway, when you broke the glass in Vegeta's face...it takes some serious balls. Hats off.-

-Because _Vegeta _is invulnerable and can fly, right? Did I dream about it?-

No, it was true. But Krillin thought it was certainly not the right time to tell that woman that Bulma's husband was the prince of an almost extinct alien race, capable of destroying planets and transforming.

If Kate swam in a sea of doubt after what she was told, Krillin also was dying to know: for pete's sake, he had Eighteen's mother in front of him! During the trip he had found it hard to refrain from asking her about the twins, what life had been like with them, what their favourite things were, when was their birthday. Little things that intrigued him.

-I guess that even...the father of the twins is worried.-

Krillin was almost afraid that she could beat him. Not that she would do him any harm, but he understood what it was made of.

-Highly unlikely. I raised them alone.-

Avoiding as much as she could the curious gaze of her interlocutor, Kate weighed up carefully the benefits of saying words that had not been spoken for more than twenty years. She had never told anyone the whole story, not even the twins themselves. It had always been one of the most intimate things she had. But now, compared to people who flew and her children who had become cyborgs apparently, her adventures no longer felt that private. Suddenly it seemed natural to talk about it.

-...Ours was never a love story; he and I were together just long enough to conceive the twins.-

Kate had spent all that time wondering if he knew; she had never told him, but the memory she had was of a clever fellow.

Krillin hated that traffic had begun to flow again; he wanted to give Kate Lang all his attention.

-Didn't he love them?-

-Oh, he would have loved them.-

He saw her smile as she thought perhaps of some memory, or of those same words that in other circumstances she would never have confessed.

Kate absolutely didn't want to let Krillin read the flashback she was experiencing. She recalled that distant September morning in the South City district. She stood on the dock waiting for the ship _Ragamuffin_, pale and exhausted but with her cheeks on fire. Twenty-four years old, Lapis and Lazuli only a promise of life tucked up under her dress; and their father crying, saying goodbye to the girl of his heart. He knew he had to let her go.

-Tell me a little about the nature of the relationship between you and my children.-

When he looked at her and saw a new vivacity in her eyes, Krillin thought that at that moment the resemblance with Seventeen was uncanny. It dazed him for a moment:

-I was there when they were activated.-

Bad word. Awful choice.

-They were...programmed to be our enemies. But they turned on Dr. Gero, they were never monsters.-

Kate's face reverted to an impenetrable fortress and Krillin cursed his unfortunate choice of words. But it was the cold, hard truth, and in any case he felt that such a degree of truth was all she wanted, he _had to _give it to the mother. She wouldn't accept anything less than the truth.

-I had the opportunity to do something for them and I did it. Now they are free. They can live in peace.-

Maybe Kate would have preferred not to know.

_Activated, Dr. Gero, monsters._

If on the one hand Kate was convincing herself to accept that truth, her brain always refused to believe that _cyborgs _could even be something real. Instinctively she took her head in her hands, afraid it might explode.

By now they were almost in Central City, Kate looked out the window:

-Stop the car, Krillin.-

He looked at her in amazement:

-We are not yet at your house.-

-I'm getting down here. Have a great life.-

Kate thought she could leave the whole thing behind by getting out of the car and walking towards a place she had spotted, where she could clear her mind by mingling with the crowd and distracting herself with the din of the shops.

-…Miss Lang, wait up! I have to take you home.-

Without turning to look at Krillin, Kate kept walking in the direction of a building topped with a large sign, making a gesture at random that wanted to be a thank you. She knew the _Star of the Centre_, Lazuli always went there. She used to come home laden with more or less bought stuff.

That day Kate decided she would have a blow-dry: if she didn't do something to distract herself, she was sure to have a heart attack. Going to the hairdresser relaxed her.

As expected the shopping centre was crowded and as the hairdresser combed her hair Kate watched people through the mirror, passing by like a stream. She could watch well enough the people resting on a bench. There was a grandfather eating ice cream with his granddaughter, a girl texting on her cell phone and a woman wearing a scarf over her hair; but the one who immediately caught Kate's attention was a young man. He wore a beanie on his head, black jeans and sneakers, a sleeveless white shirt. He looked bored, stamping his feet on the floor and crossing his vigorous arms over his chest. Kate didn't have a that good of a view from that mirror, but she noticed he had a beautiful profile; it reminded her of Lapis's. Kate shrugged, by now she saw them everywhere. She kept looking at him, fantasizing about how much she would have liked that the handsome youth was her son. As she continued to stare at him through the mirror, Kate also saw that he had taken off the beanie. Kate was thunderstruck, the knuckles of her hands turned white when she grabbed the armrests of the chair with her cold and sweaty hands.

Now the boy was also staring at her.  
_"Lapis ..."_

Kate was barely breathing. She couldn't believe it, it was incredible. On the verge of tears, Kate got up from her chair and with her hair still wet she ran as fast as she could towards the exit of the salon:

-Lapis!-  
But by the time Kate reached the door, the boy had already vanished. 

/

Krillin hadn't left. He didn't know if Kate Lang would be back soon, but he couldn't ditch her.

He had stayed in the car listening to music, watching the traffic go by. From the mirror the warrior could see the entrance to the _Star of the Cent__re_; he had suddenly spotted a bus pass, and just behind someone running until the bus had been too fast to chase. The sheen of her black hair caught his eye.

In a hurry, Krillin restarted the car and followed Kate, who marched along the road with downcast, red eyes and trouble written all over face:

-Miss Lang! You didn't need the bus, I was here.-

He braked suddenly when she cut his way to get back in the car.

He didn't dare ask her what had happened; it looked like he had seen a ghost.

With her hair still all wet, Kate pinned Krillin down with a look that allowed no argument:

-To the police station. Now.-

She slapped Krillin on the hand and fumbled nervously with the GPS, sparing him the task of typing in the destination.

/

-I saw my son.-

Kate clapped her hands on the detective's desk. Three years of emptiness, during which every 13th of February she had written summary letters and thoughts for their birthday. So much time spent suffering. She had been _so close _to him, fate had dangled that possibility in front of her eyes and had then taken it from her ruthlessly.

Krillin was sitting next to Kate, and she was so nervous and excited she hadn't even stopped him from following her. Now he could justify her reaction. Krillin startled to realize that the cyborgs had once again been one step away from him. Goddamn artificial_ ki_ of theirs, if only it were like his own he and the other_ Z Fighters_ would have found them instantly. Who knows where they had gone, this time.

He wondered if he would see his Eighteen again, his_ Lazuli_.

The detective had summoned the team who were still handling the twins' case. They couldn't get in touch with the captain, but they could manage Kate on their own. There was no need to disturb the captain while he was on patrol in the most dangerous neighbourhood in the whole district.

-I'm sure, believe me, it was Lapis: I saw him with my own eyes!-  
An officer clicked with the mouse and a photo appeared on his desktop. He showed to Kate:

-Here, this is a picture of your son, it dates back to the time of the disappearance. Are you sure it was him?-  
Krillin peeked at the desktop and seeing Lapis before he became No. 17 made him miss something he had never lost. On that photo he was just a regular human boy, still unaware of the terrors that awaited him. He thought of the current Seventeen, surprised to see that from the outside no one would have ever understood that, theoretically, he was now a weapon.

However the warrior felt relieved to think that at least for now the terror was over.

Kate stood in front of the screen, obsessively looking at every detail of the image:

-He hasn't changed a bit…-

-Excuse me?-

-He hasn't changed. The Lapis I saw is totally identical to this photo.-

The detective sat across from her: -Madam. When Lapis disappeared he was eighteen if I'm not mistaken.-

-That's correct.-

-And now, according to what you told us he is alive and he would be twenty-one.-  
Kate nodded. What kind of question was it, wasn't he able to make a simple addition?

If only Kate had accepted what she was told! Krillin clenched his fists, cringing to see how stubborn she was in wanting to rely on the police: he, Bulma and Vegeta had already told her the twins were alive.  
The detective sighed in dismay:

-I'm sorry, but I don't really think that the guy you saw was him. You know how it goes, even if at that age you don't change much anymore it's impossible not to change one iota in three years. Especially for a young man, at twenty-one one is better built than at eighteen. Correct me.-  
Indeed, the detective's reasoning made sense; it was true even if it was certainly not like passing from adolescence to adulthood. Lapis looked exactly like she remembered, except of course for the clothes. His hair was maybe a little longer, he was a little taller too.

-But it was him! I'm sure.-  
Kate could have been wrong about anything, but _not _about her son. And Lazuli? In theory she should have been there too, and she certainly was. However, Kate was increasingly aware of her emotional component, a factor that certainly played in the front row in the whole situation: was it possible for that young man with long black hair to be just a hallucination?   
-Your theory is certainly valid, detective; but just tell me, how many people you've seen have these looks?-

Everyone turned to look at her; so many people and physiognomies passed under the eyes of those policemen, but that jewel palette of pure black hair and aquamarine eyes, those cheek dimples? As far as they were concerned, they were actually only Kate Lang's.

And her son Lapis's, in fact.

Faced with that irrefutable truth , the detective admitted that perhaps she had not been wrong.

-Okay, Miss Lang. It is worth taking your testimony into consideration.-

Under Kate's iron gaze, the detective picked up the phone; it rang empty in his hands, eventually calling Captain Weiss.

/

When he had left the headquarters of the Commando Magenta, Sixteen had flown away, staying close to the top of the buildings.

He hadn't gone far: the insistent sirens of a police car soon had intrigued him. He had settled on a dilapidated balcony and his optical sensors had immediately registered a policeman with a megaphone in his hand:

-Sir, come down. Immediately.-

It reminded him of that time in West City, when he had illegally plunged into that pond to discover swans.

-Hands up where I can see them.-

His circuits calculated that the policeman believed him to be affiliated with the despicable Cloe Mafia.

The policeman seemed amazed at his appearance, but he didn't delay in handcuffing him.

Contrary to what he had done when Seventeen and Eighteen had stolen the van, he didn't break the cuffs. He had a good time seeing that despite his best efforts, the policeman was unable to get him into the car.

-No use, I'm not Commando Magenta. Commando Magenta is evil.-

-And how can I believe you? You were there. Nobody but us and them hangs around here.-

Sixteen gave him his weary smile. He did not know how his processors allowed him to distinguish his rank:

-Captain, I spoke to the Commando. She shot me, she was worried I would tell you about them. If you believe me, I want to tell you what I know.-

Captain Weiss had been patrolling the risky area of the headquarters for months, hoping that _this _would one day happen: to capture a member of the Commando or some witness to their activities who had not yet become a dead body.

They were heinous but clever criminals, they eluded the policemen who did not kill.

Weiss knew that the mission he had chosen was particularly dangerous. Just two weeks earlier, Cloe Mafia herself had killed some of his colleagues.

Bruno did not fear much for himself, since trying to undermine the Commando was his goal. He feared for his family; every evening his soon to be his wife, came home before him and did not rest until she heard his keys turn in the lock. And she hugged him tightly, glad that the Commando hadn't killed him, then slapped him for the anxiety he had made her live in for another day.

Bruno had thought of her and their little girl when he had stumbled upon that giant ready to talk. Maybe that was his chance.

He had taken him to a small station, an annex to the bigger one where he usually worked with the detective still in charge of the Lapis and Lazuli case.

Sixteen described in detail all the people who had seen: thanks to its optical sensors he could provide an accurate estimate of their height and age. He had also described their firearms, giving policemen the opportunity to track them down, from who knows where to the hands of the Commando.

-Your contribution is of exceptional quality,...?-

-Sixteen.-

Bruno scratched his chin on hearing that name, but he didn't mull it over:

-Sixteen. We may need your support during this week.-

/

Sara was still aching, lying on the shop floor when she felt herself grabbed by the shoulders and lifted. She met Lazuli one more time, facing her off with the usual icy stare.

-What got into you? You have to give me that dress back, I work here and I let you steal again. You old skank…-

Sara seemed to use insults as terms of endearment. It seemed to Eighteen that Sara had already forgotten she had hurt her; there was no grudge in her eyes.

Sara's appearance hinted something to her, something that was lost in the distance between her and the world to which Gero had made her say goodbye. It was as if Eighteen already knew that Sara had always preferred that look of dangling earrings and high ponytail, that dark blonde hair fading into a shade as pale as hers (but fake). Eighteen remembered perhaps those deep blue eyes and the jovial smile, the prominent and broad cheekbones. She tremendously wanted to remember Sara.

She hoped Sara could say something that would trigger a memory in her mind. So she played the game:

-What did you do while I was kidnapped?-

-I found a job here. And I made a masterpiece.-

Full of pride Sara showed her the photo of a small girl with a few locks of curly hair, with amber skin and eyes. She was six months old.

-This is my Amelia.-

Seventeen liked children more than she did, but the eyes of that little girl undeniably moved something inside Eighteen; she was sure to know them. They were the father's.

It was so strange, she felt bitter; in all that time, Sara had had time to become a mother. Who knows what it was like, to bring another human being into the world.

-If you ask me, Lazuli, it's the most amazing thing in the world. I liked being pregnant, I also liked the phase in which Amelia woke up every two hours. Even if the world was in turmoil because of that Cell guy. Then not everyone feels like I do about motherhood, this is only my experience.-

Sara talked to her about the terror of the_ Cell situation _, a topic Eighteen didn't want to discuss.

-But in all this, where is Lapis?-

-Who?-

-...bah, your brother.-

Seventeen, all right. He had stayed behind, he felt unwell. By the way, sooner or later Eighteen would have had to go back and shake him out of that tantrum:

-Did you say anything about my mother?-

Sara scratched her head; she told her to wait for her shift to end, she was a shop assistant in that boutique Lazuli was stealing from:

-I think it is better to talk calmly while we have a drink.-

The cyborg girl had waited for the end of the shift sitting on a bench in the shoes section. It hurt not to have the faintest memory of Sara, the girl wasn't that bad; she was someone to talk to.

Shortly thereafter, Sara watched astonished while Lazuli downed her sixth ice tea.

-You still look younger than twenty. Do you have such beautiful skin because do you drink plenty?-

"_Drink plenty. Sure..."_

Eighteen started to chew on a straw, until she found a piece of the neatly sliced plastic in her mouth.

-In any case, as far as I know, your mother has never stopped looking for you guys in the past three years. I don't mean to offend, but I thought you were dead. Imagine when I saw you in the store.-

Who was her mother?

The word kicked in: she was a daughter. She had a mother. Could she have seen her again?

-It doesn't matter anymore, I'm back. Take me to her.-

-I don't know how…-

Eighteen watched Sara dial a number on her cell phone. She noticed an engagement ring on her finger.

-But maybe someone can do it.-

This was about to happen, Sara would bring her back to this phantom mother. Another step towards a life she had lost, another jerk to the cage: more freedom was there, at a phone call from her. Her mother would soon be with her.

But Eighteen was alone. Alone before one of the most overwhelming things that could have happened to her: finding the person she really owed her life to.

Eighteen was not ready, she was so small in the face of that enormity. She was to return to Seventeen. She had to do it _now_.

Sara felt cornered. She knew that the twins had disappeared as delinquents, and now as far as the law was concerned they would return as delinquents. Their disappearance had left certain criminal issues pending, such as the burning of that train. Although the police also leaned towards other culprits, the Commando Magenta, the twins still had to be arrested.

They had just come back...They had to at least go home to their mother: if Sara had made that call, they would have been apprehended. Perhaps, with a little luck, the person Sara was about to call would have for once put duty aside. She had one chance in two.

-Hey, honey. You can't guess who's here with me, I almost had a stroke! Lazuli, do you want to talk to…-

Talking on the phone Sara had lowered her eyes for less than a second. When she raised them , she only looked at an empty seat in front of her.

Lazuli was gone.

/

Bruno didn't want to believe his ears. He had received a shocking call: they had found Lazuli. His fiancée had spoken to her. Lazuli in the flesh had told her that she had been kidnapped and that she was now back.

Bruno knew he had to believe Sara, he felt she had told the truth.

Lazuli was in good state, according to Sara: her appearance was the same as always and she didn't look ill, even though Sara had understood that it was difficult for her to remember life before the kidnapping.

Bruno could not stop thinking about it. She was alive, she still existed. She had returned. On that hot afternoon at the station, Bruno continued to leaf through his case file and wondered what to do, what to say to Kate: the moment they found the twins, an arrest was the duty.

-Something is troubling you, Captain Weiss.-

-Ah, Sixteen. You always seem so calm, how do you do it? It's an old case. We may have a chance to catch two gangsters who have disappeared and are now back.-

-Catching criminals is a noble duty.-

-Definitely, but this is different. I know well the mother of these two and I have no heart to tell her how the story goes, protocol and everything. It's dismaying. I will be the one denying her to be with her children.-

Sixteen casually looked in the file and saw a photo of the cyborgs. It was really them.

By now he knew their story thanks to the Briefs family. And now someone had seen Eighteen, they were alive. They were nearby.

Apologizing to Captain Weiss, Sixteen had hurriedly left the small police station. He only needed to walk down the street, he had to think. He had to understand the information that his own circuits were processing about his mood. It was then that he had felt Seventeen's fighting strength.

/

_Back to the storyline_

Eighteen was flying.

She flew and a strange feeling of distress was giving her again that knot to her guts. At the sight of the old stone house, she lost altitude and entered the furnished room through the window.

-Seventeen, I have to talk to you. Please listen to me.-

He was sleeping like a stone; she prodded him but he pushed her away and turned away.

"_Okay! Then do whatever you want."_

-Leave him, he's resting.-

She did not know whether to be amazed at the massive beast on the floor, which had now pricked up its ears, or at the voice she recognized instantly.

She was almost afraid to look up, fearing it was only her imagination; but the unmistakable green suit and ginger mohawk were real.

She murmured the name of her friend, her brother in arms; the android of great power who had protected her.

Instinctively she tugged at her nervous lips, looking at the floor. And then she felt his big hands on her shoulders:

-Eighteen. You're back.-

When the cyborg girl looked up she met the eyes of the artificial human. Without thinking, with a sigh she threw her arms around Sixteen's neck, in her first hug after three years. She hadn't even hugged her brother in that time and now there she was, as if to wish to ensure she was really touching the friend she thought to have lost forever.

In her mind, Eighteen still could not find a way to thank Krillin; she knew it was him.

And Sixteen rejoiced in that contact with the friend of a lifetime, that masterpiece of biomechanics who felt tiny in his arms. At that point, the pointy-eared dog woke up.

It began to bark and growl, jumping up and down on Seventeen: he was its new master and had to defend him from_ two_ intruders.

The cyborg had to wake up necessarily.

-What do you want, Botz ? Stay down.-

Sixteen and Eighteen watched that dog lick Seventeen on his face, wagging his tail happily. And the boy didn't mind, Botz managed to snatch a cheerful laugh from him.

He stretched with satisfaction and put on his shoes. Following Botz's trotting, Seventeen's gaze fell on his sister. And on…

-Sixteen?!-

The cyborg was stunned for a moment. Maybe he was still dreaming.

-It's him, bro. Look at him.-

Seventeen leaned instinctively to give his friend a solid, sincere pat. With a look he told him that if it wasn't for Sixteen to find him, he would have done it.

Later, as the sun went down, Seventeen said thank you for defending him:

-That detachable fist was cool.-

-I simply did what I had to do.-

-But just so you know, you won't stay stronger than me forever.-

/

Sixteen had stayed there with them. He had put himself in a corner, with Botz not ceasing to smell him.

-You traitor…-

Seventeen looked annoyed at the dog, which had taken very little time to grow fond of the android.

Sixteen refrained from speaking. He left Seventeen to his sister, who seemed to be dying to talk:

-While you were sleeping and I was away, I found a friend from when I was human. She can take us to our mother.-

-I too can. I saw our mother.-

Eighteen felt short of breath, but Seventeen kept it up: a few days earlier, that woman at the shopping centre had had such a strange effect on him that for a long time he had been unable to think of anything else.

When she had looked straight in the face he had felt everything stirring, as if a hurricane had blown inside him. Her eyes seemed to tell him forgotten stories, the stories that Gero had wanted him to forget.

That lady had knocked the breath out of Seventeen. He couldn't help it, he hadn't wanted to face that woman and the load of emotions she carried with her. For this he had run away, although seeing her had given him a feeling of warm familiarity that had brought him back to the times before the kidnapping.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought to have met her before. In his catalepsy he had continued to muse, on when and how he had met her.

And then, a barrage of scattered memories had stormed him; with perfect timing, his mind had suddenly felt freer of the haze that had permeated it for the past three years.

-Our mother? Are you crazy?-

How did he know it was their mother and not another person they had known? And in case it was her, why the hell had he let her go?

In Seventeen's eyes, she looked like his sister:

-And by the way, honestly, how many people look like this?-

Seventeen pointed to himself, making Eighteen laugh:

-Stop bragging already…-

-It is what it is; mine is not a common phenotype, and this is a fact.-

Wow, Seventeen even knew how to contextualize a word as big as _phenotype _.

But he had had a good intuition.

In her heart, Eighteen knew she had always carried her mother's gaze with her. A presence that had watched over her, that had never left her.

-We have to go to her.-

Sixteen had intervened, telling what he had learned from Captain Weiss. He regretted causing his friends that mortified look he saw in their eyes.

But he had a plan, he just needed someone to help him. He needed anyone who could help to jump in.

/

One more time, Bulma opened the door to Sixteen.

-See-Tee!-

Trunks jumped forwards so quickly that Bulma had no choice but to hand him to the giant.

-Where did you go? The cyborgs' mother was here, if it's her you're looking for.-

-Him again…-

A voice rang out from inside the house; Sixteen saw Vegeta at the far end of the room, beyond the door frame, with his hands on his hips and a hostile air about him.

With urgency and apprehension that once again seemed too human for an artificial being, that extraordinary creation reported Captain Weiss's plans to the scientist.

-He doesn't know I know them. He must take them, it's orders. But I'm on the side of Seventeen and Eighteen.-

Bulma thought of how much Kate Lang's love and fortitude had impressed her. By now she was feeling up to her neck in that sad family affair that was about to turn into joy again. And giving immense joy to three people was doable. Just a phone call away.

If Bulma wanted to do her part, she had to make that woman reunite with her children smoothly, without hindrances:

-Ah, of course, I'll take care of this Captain Weiss. Come in, let's talk- Bulma winked at the android -and you, come here. Patience…-

She removed her baby from Sixteen just as he was climbing on his very high shoulder.

/

-What will we tell her? How will she buy it? She is a basic human.-

Sitting near the only non-smoking chimney on that rooftop, Seventeen rubbed his eyes and yawned indiscreetly, exposing his red mouth to Eighteen's sight.  
She rolled her eyes:

-I think there will be so many things to say...I have no idea.-

Each twin was building their own conversation. Who knows what it would feel like, talking to their mother after such a long time.

Eighteen had suddenly remembered the woman in her dream and everything had matched. That was why she had never forgotten, that was why the woman looked like her brother.

The joy of that extra step towards freedom had pervaded her and when Sixteen had pushed them to fly with him to that roof, the twins had followed him. He had made them stay there, without explanations:

-_You have to trust this. Do you trust me?__-_

Obviously. Sixteen was their only friend. And then they understood.

They searched Sixteen with their eyes, but could no longer see him.

/

"_Police, hurry! I'm calling to report the appearance of the leaders of the Blacks. Lapis and Lazuli. "_

"_Where are you?"_

"At the _Star of the Centre. Hurry up! They are running away on the roof! "_

"Don't _worry, madam. We will send a unit immediately. "_

The policeman who had received that anonymous call ran to Captain Weiss; Bruno grabbed handcuffs and a pistol, with his team he rushed sirens blaring out on the streets of the city, towards the shopping centre.

He was supposed to be the one making the arrest. An arrest he still didn't know how to carry out.

-Out of the way! Police!-

The officers ran through the floors full of people, trying not to crash into anyone in their race.

-Make way! Police!-

They ran up to the roof: in two they threw themselves against the bolted door. Bruno's heart was up in his throat.

-They might be armed. Use caution.-

When the door fell, he was the first to run on the roof. The other cops got into formation, aiming their guns.

-Hands up! Lapis and Lazuli, you are under arrest for the burning of the regional train CC-4820.-

Bruno nervously went around the roof. His colleagues gathered around him:

-Captain ... I'm sorry.-

Bruno looked around and saw no Lapis and Lazuli, but only other roofs.

Roofs, chimneys, dirt moved by the wind.

/

Kate was right, damn right she was; her children were alive and well, as those people had always told her.

Bulma Briefs had called to tell her that they were in West City, on a rooftop.

She had driven towards the great metropolis and thrown herself up the fire escape, up to that roof. Kate ran and did not feel tired: she had always believed it, deep in her heart hope had never died. An uncertain mixture of joy and pain made her heart ache, she ran as tears dotted her hair like pearls.

She would have liked to shout it to the whole world, to write it in the sky with an airplane; all that hope had not been in vain, her children were alive and she was going to meet them. She wished she could invent a name for the feeling that was overwhelming her from the depths of her being.

She was there, it was now a matter of minutes; she kept going up the stairs, calling out loud.

The twins could not move, but they felt that every step their mother took towards them removed another piece of their mental barrier.

Piece by piece it was crumbling. Forever.

They had always believed they had been awake and conscious since the doctor had activated them with the order to kill his enemy, but in reality they had been like zombies, with no longer any possibility of remembering what real life had been; they had never felt alive, only tenants of a false and unattached existence which was not theirs.

Kate opened an old rusty door and ran onto an old roof full of smoking chimneys and ash. When she saw them, her heart stopped; it ached with love, it hurt so bad it took flight.

Light breathing, anxious with emotions: when Seventeen and Eighteen turned around, three pairs of ice blue eyes met. Kate was standing in front of them.

The cage caved in, once and for all.

They were free.


	13. Reboot

None of the three could really believe that moment.

In one way or another the twins had always expected it, as well as Kate who in her sleepless nights had not surrendered to oblivion.

When their eyes met in that twilight, the sun was dying behind a sea of clouds that promised rain.

That was their reward, that was their moment; for all the love passed heart to heart and eye to eye that night, well, some wait their whole life for such a moment.

It was Kate who approached first; the smile that Eighteen liked so much, which she had never forgotten, shone on her face and lit up her eyes with light and love never seen before.

She tottered on, blinking and occasionally sniffing while holding out her hand to the twins.

It was really them, as she remembered them. Their eyes looked the same as ever, only more serene. Mother could feel again all their affection for her.

Kate wasn't thinking about what she had been told; cyborgs or not, those were just her beloved children. They had turned around to look at her together, like when they were young.

When the distance between her and Seventeen and Eighteen was practically nothing, Kate looked at them again and with infinite affection she squeezed them.

-Mum?-

Seventeen muttered those three letters in a broken voice; Kate encouraged him with a nod and caressed his shoulder.

He grabbed Kate's hand and then pulled her to his chest, leaning over her. Emotion made him narrow his eyes and frown:

-Mum.-

Eighteen watched Kate caress her brother's hair and give him a hurried kiss on the forehead, before extending an arm to invite her to come closer. Eighteen eventually had the beautiful woman in front of her; her mother, who had cradled her when she was little, the person she had never stopped thinking about.

The fate without return that Gero had inflicted on her had been reversed, her heart was no longer frozen: Kate was the one to whom she owed her existence and the person she was. Eighteen couldn't believe they were together again, she was no longer dreaming.

As the cyborg girl indulged in her mother's hug, she felt that everything that had happened after Cell had prepared her for that moment; every misery faded, swept away by the magic of that embrace.

All three were entwined in a tender hug, kneeling together on the rooftop.

Holding the twins so tight against her chest, so close to her heart, Kate went back to the time when they were still living in her womb, when she had shed her blood for them, welcoming them to life.

Kate thought she would never hear again someone calling her _mum_; her heart exploded, she cried and squeezed her children, squeezed hard, nothing bad would have taken them away.

Seventeen could not express his emotions, he only knew that this was the end point of everything, that Kate was the person to thank for his life; she and no one else. He could only think he had won against the ignoble Dr. Gero, who had claimed to put himself in Kate's place and make him forget her.

Eighteen didn't want to leave that hug, even if at some point the plenitude overwhelmed her. A feeling so strong that shook her whole body. She had wanted out of the hug and had sat down for a moment.

A camera suspended in mid-air recorded the scene on the roof; but this time there were no wicked eyes watching the twins through its lens.

At Capsule Corp., Bulma watched the live footage with Sixteen and Krillin.

It had been so easy in the end: a simple anonymous call was enough to completely divert the police, so obsessed with finding Lapis and Lazuli as they were. In her heart, the scientist thought that despite everything it was for the better that the _Z Warriors _were the real protectors of the Earth, one couldn't really count on the cops.

Touching a screen, Bulma zoomed in on the video and smiled seeing Kate and the cyborgs sit together on the roof and watch the sun disappear.

-And so, all is well what ends well.-

Bulma locked the tablet and exchanged a knowing look with her old and new friend.

-Tsk. It ends well, it depends...-

Everyone turned to look at Vegeta, leaning against a wall with a can of beer in his hand: -I still haven't had my rematch with those brats.-

/

A week had passed since Kate had stopped being alone, her Lapis and Lazuli were back and everything was right again. A week in which she never got tired of looking at them, touching them, embracing them. Those terrible years had now lost their power over Kate: she burst with happiness, sometimes she wept in the middle of a conversation for the sheer joy of having them there.

However, she was perplexed: it seemed to her that her children had been lobotomized. They looked around curiously, as if they had difficulty remembering it was their home.

-Kids, I need you to tell me what happened; I understand you want to enjoy the serenity of this moment, but I have been in pain all these years...-

When she had asked them to talk about what had happened, they had become sad and told her it was a long, very painful story. They needed time, a break: they had just come home.

Kate mulled over Vegeta's and Krillin's words: they seemed to have forgotten who they were.

When she called them by name they didn't answer, as if those names weren't theirs. Could it be true? Had anyone who _turned _them _into cyborgs _erased their memory? It was a hypothesis that would explain everything, even episodes like the car ride the day before.

/

The first place where Eighteen had been taken by her own steps was her bedroom: as soon as they had arrived home from West City, she had run to her room and had remained in the doorway looking at her bed, walls and wardrobes. And she had remembered, that was her stuff.

She had reached inside the wardrobe with a smile: _"My clothes ..." _

An old instinct had had her touch the parquet under the rug, in a spot that only she knew. She laughed up her sleeve, pulling a nice stack out of a secret compartment: _"And my money."_

Meanwhile, Seventeen enjoyed looking at framed photos:

-I remember everything now: that one was my first rally race!-

Seventeen had laughed enthusiastically, pointing to a picture of himself leaning on his red Subaru; his hair still didn't reach past his ears.

-Mum, do you still have my car?-

-Of course darling. It's in the garage.-

Kate had followed him and stood watching as he had removed the sheet that carefully covered his car.

-I'll take you for a ride!-

Kate had tried to say no, but with disconcerting speed her son had taken her hand and had practically slipped her into the car.

Shortly after Kate and Seventeen had returned, and she wasn't blinking. Eighteen had looked at her brother and at the mangled shoe hanging from his perfectly unharmed foot.

-What did you do, Seventeen?-

Not on purpose, he had hit the brake too hard:

-I had to do it myself and invent something; shame about the shoe.-

He had untied what was left of the shoe and thrown it in the trash. Kate had told her daughter how he had kicked a hole in the car door and planted his foot in the downhill road, saving them from an accident without even getting a scratch.

Kate had followed him into the kitchen:

-Lapis, let's go to the hospital, please. You must have broken something.-

However, Kate had observed that her lad was hale and hearty. He had given her a quick hug to console her, watching Eighteen shake her head with an angry look.

Mum knew nothing. She ignored what they had become, what Dr. Gero had done to them; she knew nothing about the Creature.

Maybe she would never understand. Seventeen and Eighteen knew that if they really loved her, sooner or later they would have to talk to her about their conversion. But for the moment they just wanted a little peace, if they hadn't done anything suspicious Kate wouldn't have noticed. In the end they were different on the inside; on the outside they were nothing Kate didn't know.

They also expected that the retrieval of their mother would hit them with a flow of memories, but everything was quiet, slow. Even if Kate had told her version of the facts, in those days she hadn't wanted to dig up indefinitely that dark time of her life.

She had other plans:

-Sorry, darlings, I have to leave you alone: we must celebrate and I want to do everything myself.-

She had locked herself in her spacious kitchen; the twins now remembered its sage-coloured wooden cabinets. Kate had spent three hours cooking like a demon. She had peeked out the door still wearing her apron, a sugary scent infiltrating out of the door:

-You can come in now.-

She invited the twins to sit at the table, that round light-coloured table on which they had made crafts and homework as children.

-I know we're past your birthday, but we must celebrate being together again. I worked so hard…-

Kate placed on the table the fruit of her efforts, a very scenic cake decorated with melted chocolate and strawberries lovingly arranged in a radial pattern. The twins detected a subtle burning smell, although the cake looked fine. It actually looked scrumptious.

Mum ceremoniously cut three slices and then ran to get something she had forgotten.

Thinking about how odd it was that Seventeen hadn't eaten up his portion yet, Eighteen kept looking at her own, poking it with the fork: it consisted mainly in custard sandwiched between two layers of sponge cake, it looked increasingly soggier from the crust through the middle. Eighteen hadn't touched solid food for years, in truth she didn't miss it at all.

And now she didn't feel like it, she still felt upside down from the reunion.

Kate came back with a steaming teapot. She had high hopes and looked satisfyingly at her son chewing his cake:

-Well, baby? How do you like it?-

He nodded shyly.

Eighteen pushed the saucer away with a grimace, but felt a big kick under the table: raising her eyes she met the corrugated eyebrows and the frozen look of her brother.

He was mouthing the words _don't you bloody dare_;he laughed at seeing Eighteen sacrifice herself to eat a piece of her slice. When mother and sister turned away, Seventeen spat discreetly into a napkin and hid the rest of his slice.

They must have been terrible liars, because Kate looked down:

-It sucks, doesn't it? I knew that custard is delicate stuff...-

She had wanted to impress them kitchen with something special in mind. She didn't want to give up on the fact that she was a bad cook. She couldn't even bake a cake for her children.

The twins felt guilty, Kate had devoted three hours of her time to them and they hadn't made her happy.

Later Eighteen crushed her toothbrush, trying to wash away from her mouth the hideous taste of that noble attempt.

She stood wearily in front of the mirror, looking at herself:

-I'm sorry for mum, but that was a crime against humanity.-

-You are wonderfully ironic, you know?-

-Now that thing won't sit well with me for two days.-

Seventeen was standing against the wall. He was leafing through a magazine, while keeping his sister company and laughing at the toxicity of the cake:

-No, that's impossible. If by now you haven't seen any green hives on your face, you're probably out of danger.-

Seventeen was right, the two of them could never suffer an indigestion; but Eighteen felt sick to her heart, thinking that for a period of time yet to be defined she would have had to give up her new, convenient diet just to not make Kate suspicious.

Unfortunately for them, it was not in Kate's nature to sit idly without asking questions. She was confused, very confused. And also quite excited, that rollercoaster-like excitement. The stories she had so far heard only explained why the twins had disappeared: but there was so much more, Kate felt it. There were many dots that could, once connected, have explained the words of Vegeta and Krillin.

She needed to hear the truth from them.

One day Kate was with Lapis in her room, and that uncomfortable task had fallen to him because paper wraps stone. Seventeen had grumbled, but it was just a matter of telling her the truth:

-I will tell you everything but you mustn't freak out, do you promise?-

Kate snapped, before he started talking,

-One thing. Who are you, Seventeen? My Lapis?-

-It's always me: there are some things that have changed, but others have remained the same. You don't have to be afraid, it's all right.-

Kate got up abruptly, pacing the room far and wide:

-No, I can't accept it, you don't even remember your name! What have they done to you?-

The boy sighed, taking her hands and holding them with love; Kate felt his breath moist and hot on her fingers.

-It's straightforward. Eighteen and I are now cyborgs.-

Ice mirrored ice: Kate looked him straight in the eye, with a defiant look that rivalled his.

Seventeen raged, feeling an indefinite anger he had to let out.

"_You don't believe me? You think you know it all, don't you?"_

Mother had always been like this: she thought she always had everything under control, that life and the world were a puzzle she always knew how to solve.

But now he would show her:

-Get up.-

Kate felt a moment confused by the fury she perceived in the air and by the piercing gaze her son gave her.

After Kate got up from her bed, Seventeen grabbed it with one hand and pulled it off the wall, lifting it over his head.

-Stop it! Put it down, you'll get hurt!-

Kate yelled.

Seventeen gave her a sly smile; grabbing the bed with his other hand he shook off the blankets and the thin mattress with an annoyed gaze.

-Lapis!-

The boy ignored his mother and held the bed up.

-Seventeen.-

He raised his head in response and looked questioningly at her dazed expression, resting the bed on the ground. Seventeen waited for a reaction from his mother; not seeing it coming, he smiled again. As fast as lightning he took back the bed and widened his powerful shoulders.

Kate didn't have time to scream when she heard the jarring noise of the steel bending; dismay widened her nostrils when her son raised his eyebrows slightly and tightened his grip.

The battered skeleton of the bed creaked as it fell to the ground, in pieces; the noise filled Kate's head, stunning her.

Speechless and with anguish rising to her chest, Kate saw a faint light radiating from Seventeen's hands and reflecting on the remains of the bed he still held; the light grew rapidly in intensity, the heavy shiny mass shrank and began to drip onto the floor.

"_Oh..." _

Kate pulled back against the wall, her legs no longer holding her up.

Seventeen threw the metal to the ground and took a deep breath. At that moment Eighteen also entered; she looked first at the carcass on the floor and then at Kate, all shivering to the wall, terrified of what she must have just seen.

Eighteen stretched out her arms and Kate took refuge against her chest; the girl closed her eyes and began to caress her hair:

_"Mum mum mum mum..."_

How many times had Kate done it with her!

Eighteen walked over to her brother and raised her hand to smack him. Then she stopped, gritting her teeth, fearing to cause another accident:

-You could've avoided this...did you really have to show it off to her? You scared her to death, it's already the second time.-

-Her stubbornness was getting on my nerves. She doesn't trust what she can't see.-

Eighteen turned to Kate, leaning against her breasts with wide eyes:

-I'll take you downstairs mum, I'll lie you on the sofa; just rest and calm down.-

Why did her brother have to be an idiot?

Eighteen put her mother on her shoulder with a fluid movement, then jumped off the stairwell and gently laid her on the sofa. She covered her and smiled, then vanished.

/

-Are you happy now?-

Eighteen shouted when they were alone:

-Now it's ruined, who can talk to her...fuck it.-

She kicked a piece of bed. Seventeen stared at her, motionless.

Now how would they explain it to her? Provided mum still approached them.

Kate had only seen her son lift a steel bed and crush it like a Cola can; all the mothers who got missing children back ended up discovering that they were now half-machines with superhuman senses, strength and speed: very normal indeed, what did they have to worry about?

Now how would they explain that despite the enormous power they now possessed, they were still her children? Would Kate still believe that 17 and 18 were always able to feel and sense as they had felt and sensed as humans?

-And in any case…-

-Hush- Seventeen silenced his twin -mum is calming down, breathing steadily.-

Eighteen listened and ceased to speak aloud.

In the meantime Kate, from her sofa, heard the twins arguing animatedly, even if the words came muffled from the ceiling and upholstery.

She was literally petrified: what she had seen was not Lapis's handiwork.

She was getting nervous looking for the core of a totally insane question: what had her son become? And above all, was Seventeen really her son? A normal person could have have lifted and destroyed a mass of steel without breaking a sweat; a normal person could never have moved with such fast and silent movements.

What Seventeen had done was absurd.

It seemed to Kate that she had ended up in a sci-fi universe where her children were a kind of _Terminators, _exactly as Vegeta and Krillin had tried to explain.

If so, what should she expect?

Yet Kate remembered very well when, a little earlier, he had taken her hands; she had been sure of his feverish and slightly sweaty hold, of the light shaking of his wrists.

A _Terminator_ doesn't get thrilled. How could Kate forget their embrace a few days before, the exchange of emotions that had taken place on that roof in West City? A _Terminator_ doesn't get emotional before its mother, it hasn't got a mother in the first place.

And then their skin so normally warm and soft, the scent she had always smelled on them. Impossible, machines aren't warm and alive.

Kate had sensed the warmth of life radiating from the body of her children: everything in them was alive, full of life as she expected it to be.

Yet that soft, warm flesh was a lethal vise capable of crushing steel without letting out the slightest drop of blood.

But Seventeen had told her plainly: _we are cyborgs._

Kate had been warned, her persistence was on her.

This single thought pounded her broken temples, while she still felt shaken with fear and tension; Kate tried to recover and calm down. She didn't want to sit there while her children were with her after such a long time:

"_I can't sleep anyway."_

She headed for the stairs; immediately a door upstairs clicked and the twins peeked out onto the landing.

-Stay there mum, we'll come downstairs,- she said.

Both jumped off.

"_No no no, you're getting hurt!" _Kate thought instinctively, but in a nanosecond she made two and two and dismissed the fear:

-So, weren't we supposed to talk?-

-Shall I?- Seventeen asked.

His sister shook her head:

-Well, mum, maybe it's better if the two of us tell you. Now do you believe that we're cyborgs?-

/

-Why didn't you tell me about it when he started stalking you?-

Kate could have never guessed: an old man who had followed them for two years and had then kidnapped them. While they were speaking, Eighteen recalled the night of the rave: that boy who had undressed her, the accident, the fear, their useless fight against numbness, the white flash that had led them astray in all senses. And she felt even more aware, she could imagine how Kate had felt not seeing them come back.

-And where is that old man now?-

-Dead- Seventeen shrugged.

Kate held her forehead, looking down:

-You killed a man...-

-Yes I did. If you want I'll also tell you how.-

-You beheaded him with one blow.-

The twins jolted and stared at Kate. And for Kate it was time to say what her children didn't know:

-Before I found you, I met people. People who have met you.-

The boy ignored her and his stare went icy:

-I killed the asshole because he was out of his goddamn mind. It is he who stole all our memories, so that it never occurred to us to get rid of him, but our goal was only to kill Son Goku.-

It warmed Eighteen's heart to know that Krillin had met Kate and that Kate seemed to have a good opinion of him. And she felt another kind of satisfaction, learning that Vegeta would never forget her.

-Can I know what he did to turn you into cyborgs?-

-There isn't much to explain, since someone wanted to show off...- the blonde girl scowled at her twin.

Seventeen sighed and gave his mother a sly contrite look:

-I'm sorry mum, I didn't mean to.-

/

Kate had freed herself of a burden. Knowing what had happened to Lapis and Lazuli and accept it as the truth was a liberation. It was a truth that still unsettled her, but she was sure that sooner or later she would get used to the new physiology of her children.

However, it was less easy than she thought.

She remembered that, in the most difficult moments, she had appealed to online forums for disaster mothers, she had travelled to hear the specialists in their conferences and seminars, she had scoured the net.

She had accumulated material; she called it _tutorials_.

_Tutorials_ for teenagers; for raging teenagers; for delinquent teenagers.

But Kate could have taken it to the bank: she could have raked through the whole Internet again, through all the libraries and archives of the world, but she was sure she would _never_ find someone who would tell her what to do with cyborg offspring.

The twins had been extremely clear, the lucidity they had put into telling their story was incredible and frightening.

Not even the two of them knew exactly what the madman who had transformed them had done; Kate wondered non-stop, for her it was inconceivable. In her imagination cyborgs were huge iron things, not kids in flesh and blood.

It was impossible for her to think that her Lapis and Lazuli, so normal from the outside, had very strong units and processors inside them.

It seemed very strange to her to live in contact with devices of that calibre.

Eighteen / Lazuli had reminded her that they were not robots:

-We are always regular living people, only with mechanical parts and a little strength. We have no cables and circuits, we are 99% flesh and blood.-

They had all their organs and nerves, their blood was always the same, their heart was beating and feeling. They had told her that the madman had never been able to completely erase her from them and that therefore they had never denied her a thought; this was enough to make them people in all respects.

"_What do I do…what to do now?"_

How to deal with two androids, or rather, two cyborgs?

And not just any two cyborgs, her children; what she loved most, her whole life.

She felt immensely stupid: before they told her what had happened, she had treated them normally, like two people.

"_Because they are people!"_

Now she felt stiff, blocked.

She wasn't afraid they would hurt her, but she watched them and thought "_wow, I have two real cyborgs in front of me", _and this made it awkward for her.

Kate hoped the situation wouldn't vex them: the last thing she wanted was them thinking she no longer loved them, whereas she did as and more than before.

From there she had started to make a mess, she had made an exhibition of herself.

What do cyborgs eat?

They had even told her their reactor had an infinite reserve of energy and therefore they didn't sleep very often; they didn't need to, but sometimes chose to.

It was nice to do it, however, it made them feel "normal".

One morning Kate found herself knocking on their doors with breakfast. Eighteen had examined it before giving her a rather disappointed look:

-Eat this yourself.-

-But if you don't even know what I made you!-

-Yes, I do- the girl had pointed to the tray -this is dish soap for me, that is gasoline for Seventeen; even the asshole can smell them, down in Hell.-

-Well, I think...-

-It's poison; we could die.-

Kate had felt stupid; another time she had sat down to eat and had explained that if they needed to recharge they could use power outlets around the house, even if she couldn't tell if they were the right outlets.

-Right, we have to recharge like a cell phone or a shaver- her daughter had remarked, rather impatient -if you really consider us to be appliances, well we aren't this primitive!-

Kate had then offered them a plate of bolts, nuts, bits of plastic and even an old fork:

-Is this better?-

-Give me a break!-

Eighteen had covered her face with her hands, undecided whether to laugh or cry.

-Seriously, mum?- Seventeen had taken the fork and ground it with his teeth -I can chew this stuff but I can't digest it, or can I? Eighteen?-

The exasperated Eighteen had forced him to spit it out with a slap on the back of the neck. She had gotten lost in thought, turning a bolt between her fingers:

-...mum, would you ever eat this stuff? Do you want to make us sick?-

Kate was collecting blunders.

Like when she had caught them on their way to the shower:

-No, not water! Do you want to short out?-

-…just like the hairdryer and the toaster.-

Mother was also stunned by something else she had asked Eighteen. To her enormous surprise the girl had confessed that even as a cyborg she'd always had her period:

-Not even a biomechanical genius can do anything against the power of the female hormone!-

Kate was shocked:

-So if you wanted you could get pregnant...what about your brother?-

Eighteen had burst out laughing:

-I don't think he could get pregnant.-

/

The days passed and with the help of Kate Seventeen and Eighteen recovered their memories; it was hard and complex work, it was love, patience, laughter and eyes that widened or darkened. They had asked for it.

-Look, Seventeen, when you were still cute.-

They were leafing through old photo albums which portrayed the twins during their early years. In one that Eighteen liked there were still bald in Kate's arms; she held out her breasts to feed them.

Kate felt compelled to fill the terrible gaps that had opened up in the intimate sphere of her children. Now they were able to contextualize their names, even though they had asked her to call them by their numbers.

-You two call each other whatever you like, but I will use the names I chose for you when you were still in my belly,- Kate stood her ground.

The two of them had given her an almost ruthless look: they could no longer be Lapis and Lazuli, not after what had happened to them. Even though they were always Kate's children and even though they loved her, everything had changed; within them, especially.

Kate tried to understand and accepted their request, although for her those numbers would have never replaced their names.

Certainly there was no shortage of bad memories from the Creature; they visited them every now and then, especially when they decided to sleep, but they hadn't said a word about it to their mother.

Kate wondered about the fate of her children. What would become of them now? She knew she couldn't keep them with her for the rest of their lives.

Almost a month had passed since they had returned, many times she had withheld the truth from Captain Weiss. She did not know for how much longer she could do it, that cat needed to be let out the bag.

-There is something I have to tell you. The police are looking for you and I have the feeling that if you don't find a way to justify your innocence, they will arrest you. I know about the train accident. I also know that you two were in charge of the Blacks.-

Kate's heart had broken when she had found out. She had never imagined that her delinquent children were involved so deeply in criminal activities. Or perhaps, at the time of the disappearance she had refused to consider it.

The Blacks, that gang that the Commando Magenta had mentioned. Two figures in black.

-Innocence, sure. As far as I know, it could have been us. Because I don't remember anything.-

Kate wasn't afraid of her son's sharp eyes and voice: they _must be_ innocent. She couldn't lose them again.

-As if it were a problem running away from a stupid cell.-

-Seventeen, stop it.-

Eighteen had stopped her brother from continuing to distress Kate, who was right. The two of them had survived horrible things, it wouldn't have been a stupid arrest to take them away from their loved ones.

Kate had told Eighteen she had been involved with Captain Bruno Weiss, surely she could reason with him without using drastic methods; Eighteen didn't feel like relying on Seventeen for something that required discretion.

The eldest twin understood it was up to her to take the reins of the situation and fix the mess, to get her and Seventeen out of it. Her turn had come to do something for her brother, as a person who was still sorry for being petrified, watching Cell take him.

/

She called the captain herself. When he walked through Kate's door and saw the twins, he gasped:

-Before you arrest us, calm down for a moment. We have to explain.-

Bruno was incredulous in front of Lapis in the flesh, who had come to meet him with the same bored badass air the policeman remembered. Lapis stood there looking at him, slender and strong, taller than he. He had not aged, only grown.

-I'm happy to see you, Lapis.-

The men formally shook hands. For a moment the captain could not help looking at Lapis's eyes.

-The person who took off my balaclava is the current Commando leader, Cloe Mafia isn't she?-

The captain lost his speech when he saw _her _.

Jewel-eyed Lazuli. Lazuli with the sexy and innocent face. _She_, real, standing there.

Both understood they wanted to greet with a hug, but neither of them did.

-Listen to my brother, Bruno. And help us remember.-

Eighteen had known who Bruno was when she saw his eyes. The same eyes of little Amelia, his and Sara's.

As Seventeen explained the situation to Bruno, she wandered with her mind; it seemed strange but magnificent that two people who had been quite important in her life were now together and had created a family. The circumstances of her disappearance had united them.

She told herself she had done one good thing during her delinquent years.

Bruno, on the other hand, was facing a dilemma, the same that had tormented him about the arrest: now those two had found their mother and wanted to live in peace, he himself thought that the Commando was the real responsible for the fire. His duty as a policeman was to protect and serve, but also to discern and accept that most situations were not black or white. Juggling in the grey and help people was his real duty.

He had no choice but to be honest with them:

-Lapis, Lazuli, I don't know what to do.-

She rose and looked at him with seriousness and compassion:

-I know what to do. I will go to Cloe Mafia, nobody shall stop me.-

Bruno had tried to follow her, but Lapis's iron grip had kept him seated.

He had to trust her; she almost always knew what to do.

/

Eighteen took off. As soon as she landed where Sixteen had landed too some time earlier, she couldn't help noticing the stark contrast between that no man's land and Kate's tidy, clean residential neighbourhood. She looked at what also Sixteen had seen, and before she could take the trouble to search around, the cyborg girl was intercepted by a naïve-looking woman:

-What good wind brings you here, Lazuli of the Blacks? You're alive...-

She had white bleached hair and dark eyebrows; she wore a wreath of fake flowers on her head.

Now Eighteen remembered her. She remembered the woman's angry face as she tore off the mask that protected her identity. She remembered the Molotov cocktail she had thrown her, which Seventeen had shot before it hit her.

-A quick matter, the train: turn yourself in and I'll leave you alone.-

She didn't care about the Commando itself, she wasn't a vigilante.

-Not so fast, love, not so fast. You came back from who knows where and now you barge in, telling _me _what to do. Except that while you were gone, we changed the music. You are nobody and I, I've got this city in my pocket.-

Eighteen watched Cloe raise a clenched fist before pulling a pistol from her belt and resting the barrel against her cheekbone.

-Who sent android 16, was it you? Check this out...still here to ruin everything, to sabotage my network.-

The meeting with an unshakable man who claimed to be an android and the disappearance of four lieutenants in the Eastern quadrant of her territory couldn't be simple coincidences.

-I had four men in that dilapidated house to the east. And they're gone. I ask you, did you send android 16?-

Eighteen managed to hold back her spontaneous reaction to the name of her friend, unexpectedly pronounced by the gangster woman.

-Sixteen is nothing you should concern yourself with. I know you were the one who set fire to that train in an attempt to set _me_ on fire, now you'll have the balls to take your responsibilities.-

The contempt on Cloe's face surprised Eighteen:

-I don't know what you're talking about, are you in league with the police? In any case, you won't deliver me to the cops by spreading your legs.-

For Cloe, that little lowlife could weasel her way through every policeman in the district, but if she saw herself as a threat she was _very_ wrong: only she had men and weapons at her disposal.

Eighteen thought of the only dilapidated house she had in mind, the one with the furnished little room where she and Seventeen had settled before Sixteen found them. It belonged to the Commando Magenta, Cloe's men were there. She had stayed there very little and had not made anyone disappear, but was it possible that Seventeen...

-Go home, Lazuli. Don't make your mummy cry.-

Eighteen gave Cloe a ferocious look, clutching the gun barrel:

-Confess to the burning of the train immediately. Or I'll make you.-

Cloe felt hot and watched in amazement the gun turn red and explode. She shielded her eyes as her rival drifted away. Before Lazuli left, Cloe pointed the finger at her:

-I, on the other hand, know that you and Lapis are behind the death of my lieutenants! And the moment of my revenge has long come. There will be retaliation, Lazuli. There will be retaliation.-

Thoughts of the author:

And we resume here the cliff hanger of the last chapter! Finally Kate and her beloved twins are together again and are happy, although perhaps not everything goes as Kate had foreseen. After a laborious attempt in the style of the Great British Bake-off, Kate is disappointed with the twins not liking the cake, but here's a salient feature of Kate, she hates cooking. And _cooking_ hates her.

I tried to be realistic about Kate's reaction to the truth; I can't imagine what finding out something like that feels like.

I made a hypothesis on the physiology of the cyborgs, I guess they can't get a stomach ache but I still think the fork was a poor idea :') I thought also that the two of them can get sick, but without fastidious symptoms like us _basic humans._

Thanks for everything, readers and reviewers. The motivation you give me is enormous.


	14. Into the Royal Nature Park

Meanwhile, in the North of the planet, Carly had finished her third volunteer tour and had applied for an internship, a paid one this time.

Even if she was a student of excellence her hopes of being accepted were not very high: who knows with how many other future veterinarians, as good as she and better than she Carly would've had to compete for a place in the Royal Nature Park; she had already considered herself lucky enough.

The separation from Gage, who had become her best friend, pushed her to dare: she had thus found the courage to send her resume to human resources. Leni had confessed the decision didn't only depend on her, but that she would put in a good word for Carly.

One evening Carly got a call from her friend the head of HR:

"_It's done, girl. The board liked your avian flu study, but most of all your work with the eaglets last winter: you're starting on Monday. "_

For the first time since she was nineteen, Carly had felt truly happy. A fixed-term contract, from July to November, better than she had ever imagined.

At first she had refused the accommodation that was offered to her, despite it being paid by the park management: she would have had a roommate and if there was one thing that Carly feared about university life, it was sharing living spaces with perfect strangers. She had to do it during the first year in North City, when she had arrived mid-semester and all student housing was already taken. It had been unpleasant enough for her.

Carly wanted to be alone, moreover she imagined something uncomfortable like a dry cabin. She had respectfully declined, she was also willing to commute between her precious studio apartment in the city and her workplace, as it had happened previously.

But that was the first time Carly had to stamp the card, the first time in the park in high season: Carly had not reckoned with having to get up every morning at four to be able to arrive on time at seven, between narrow winding roads and spectacular traffic jams created by the myriad of tourists who invaded the RNP like a horde.

All work, said Leni, all work.

Carly had returned to her friend, almost begging for that famous dry cabin and hoping it was still available. As for the roommates and for the fact she probably wouldn't shave her legs for four months, whatever.

Although Mr. Der Veer would continue to pay the rent of the studio even during her absence, Carly did as she had done when she first left: on Saturday morning she packed her car full. She took her favourite books and DVDs, all of her clothes, she took pans and pots and even her giant plush snake.

It was the one she had won at _Dream World_ years before, when after doing rides to the point of being nauseous she and Lapis had tried to win stuffed animals by fishing plastic ducks.

That snake was ugly, really ugly: a cheap, synthetic sausage of an improbable fluorescent orange colour, bug-eyed, its mouth constantly open.

_"This _thing_ is the only snake with a human tongue, rather than forked. It makes him look dumb."_

Every time Carly looked at the plush snake she still heard Lapis laughing and she laughed too, now as then. But Lapis was no longer there, walking by her side and making her laugh from the heart.

/

She arrived at the village where her new home was located. When Leni left her the keys to lodging 36B, on the ground floor of a large white chalet, Carly found herself in a simple but clean and spacious two-room apartment.

-Lillian is your flatmate, she's your age. She's a good girl, she's-

-The _top ranger? _Don't tell me it's her!- 

The one that always called her _cupcake_. The one who wore cargo pants but for some strange reason never looked stubby.

Leni didn't understand much of the emotion that made her friend flare up:

-It was John's idea, but I also think you two can get along.-

Meh; what did she have to share with a ranger girl?

-The way I see it, if there is someone who can lift your spirits it's Lillian; you will be a peaceful presence for her, who cares about her work? In any case, her shifts are very different from yours, if you want to avoid her like the plague it's easy.-

Since she was going to live with that arrogant person, the different shifts were a consolation.

Alone in the new apartment, Carly snooped around trying to figure out what kind of flatmate could that Lillian be. After all Carly didn't know her, she only knew what she did; at that moment she didn't even remember what Lillian looked like.

She opened the fridge and found nothing indisputable: at least the top ranger had a decent diet, she would not have tortured Carly with the delicious fatty stuff she tried to avoid.

In the bedroom, where two single beds were separated by a white enamelled dresser, Carly saw some framed photos: the common denominator was a slender, muscular and tan girl with a wide face that gave the impression of being flat; her nice black eyes stood out.

Now Carly remembered her. Perfect, in her life there was always room for the occasional leggy Valkyrie. At least this one here didn't look like a mix of _ennui _, hatred and breath-taking beauty; unlike Lazuli, Lillian didn't scare her.

Another photo showed her in a gym, with a blue band in her hair and a huge barbell raised above her head; it looked like she was participating in a weightlifting competition.

Lillian must have prepared for Carly's arrival, her clothes and beauty products occupied only the left side of the wardrobe and bathroom cabinet. Carly spent Saturday arranging her things around the apartment and when evening came she stood at the bedroom window, looking at the road that led from the centre of the village to a lawn behind the chalet. She noticed that the solid wood shutters were carved with hearts and edelweiss motifs. She tried to wait for the _top ranger_ to return but, feeling tired, she fell asleep while the bed next to hers hadn't been touched yet. Carly thought she heard noise around two in the morning, but was not curious to meet her roommate.

The girls met the following day.

For the whole morning Lillian was only a lump under the covers and mahogany hair on the pillow, then around one o'clock Carly saw her appear in the kitchen, still sleepy, while she was typing on her laptop.

Lillian apologized for waking up so late, it was her day off:

-You're finally here! Leni promised you days ago, but then it ended in nothing. Jenny, right? Zoologist?-

-Carly. Veterinary.-

-What a stupid name! I'm horrible at remembering names, you even have a Jenny face.-

Carly was certainly not the aggressive type, but since she was now stuck with this impudent flatmate of hers, it might have been easier to get things straight from the start. If Lillian was going to act like that for much longer, surely she too would have found a way to complicate her life:

-Just to say: I'm pretty good with guns and pistol. Up to you.-

Carly wasn't sure she was joking.

A playful flash lit Lillian's eyes, which were really black like in the photos, and she had definitely woken up:

-Ow, burn!-

She had raised her hands, amused, before rummaging in the pocket of the parka she had left on a chair when she had returned to the accommodation the night before. She showed Carly her firearms licence:

-Not only do I know how to do it too, but they pay me to do it.-

-Bravo! So you guys just go around shooting people?-

-Tsk, that would be too good. But I can if needed.-

Lillian had chucked out her share of bad people, but she had never resorted to weapons during the two years she had worked in the RNP.

The two women stared at each other in silence with a tense look, but despite everything Lillian was happy: most of the time her working days were rather lonely, when she returned home she was always alone. Although petulant, that giant cupcake of her new flatmate was a person to interact with.

Pretending to be angry Lillian sat down at the table, crossing her legs and fiddling with her cell phone.

Then Carly noticed her slippers: white, hairy, with a big black writing in caps lock, _I HATE _on one foot and _GEOGRAPHY _on the other.

In spite of herself, Carly could not help laughing: she stifled the laughter, which nevertheless came out in the form of a grunt. Lillian had allowed herself to say her name was stupid, when she was the first to go around with those kitsch slippers.

-_I hate geography…_you're a park ranger. Best wishes.-

-Isn't it?- Lillian laughed heartily -how stupid can they be? My mother bought them online, on the site they had the words _Good Morning _or something like that, not that it was any better. I also have a shirt like that, it was a set...-

The girls found themselves laughing together at how dangerous it was to buy stuff on the internet at too-cheap prices. So Lillian and Carly shared a moment of joy, forgetting that for a moment things had been unpleasant.

Born and raised in those mountains, Lillian had immediately noticed the accent of her new flatmate:

-You're not a Northerner, are you?-

-I'm from Central City.-

-Wow, how's it going down there?-

It had been so little since the terrorist Cell had used the central district as an arena for his games. Central City, along with the Northern capital, had paid the highest tribute in human lives: Cell had wiped out the Royal Militia with one hand.

When the terrorist had been defeated everyone had inexplicably returned, as if they had been resurrected, but the city had already erected the monument at the foot of which people had placed wreaths of red poppies. That would become a tradition: Central City did not forget, year after year it would continue to remind everyone of the courage of those soldiers in the darkest hour.

/

From what Carly understood, Lillian was some kind of cop; she always had to make sure no bad crowd hung around the RNP and spent a lot of time on patrol.

It was her duty to take part in the rescue of tourists or animals, the first time it had happened she was still learning the trade. John had been there with her:

-It was a fire, there were all these little animals running, running madly in the opposite direction to ours while a plane dropped water over the forest. I could never be a fireman, it was terrifying.-  
-At home they must be proud of you.-  
-But my mother thinks I spend the day strolling and hiding lunch baskets from Yogi bear; frankly I'm okay with that.-  
Her mother was a coward that Lillian accused of all her problems. She had fought to choose the career she wanted, if it was for her mother Lillian would have always stayed at home:  
-You know how it is, if you leave the house you can catch a disease.-

Carly couldn't say much about her mother, she had cut bait eight years earlier. Lillian's specialty was law enforcement, but in practice she also happened to do completely different jobs; she liked to instruct tourists and since she had been feeling restless lately, she had asked John to give her some stewardship work and night maintenance shifts. That's why they hadn't met the evening Carly had come to Viey.  
-And since I'm stronger than 99% of the people who work here, I also often do maintenance. Yesterday I made a dry stone wall, my arms still hurt.-

Lillian was so strong and tough that she had become an Olympic weightlifting champion when she was only eighteen years old. Her physical qualities were both genetics and training, she could lift 110 kg.

Carly was beyond impressed. She was curious to know if she too could have done it, with the right training. Lillian had laughed, telling her bluntly that if one _could go crazy_ _all over that booty_, it was not suitable for that particular exploit: 

-Even for me it's not that easy; in the end I'm human too.-

/

There were a myriad of settlements within the RNP , between towns and villages there were about two thousand. But only from Viey, where Carly and Lillian lived, did one enjoy the exciting panorama of the Great Eden which, with its huge tongue of ice, looked them straight in the face.

Sometimes at night Carly would stay outside to listen to the low roar of the stream at the bottom of the gorge, looking at the sky: from Viey one could see the Milky Way, cut-outs of diamond-sprinkled sky that peeked between the dark sides of the mountains.

Carly had quickly grown fond of the bucolic life of the park, of her new hamlet: it was nothing but a group of chalets with carved wooden balconies, dripping with colourful geraniums, gathered around a small square dominated by an ancient oven and a stone fountain/sink. Most of the inhabitants of Viey were over fifty years old, but people like her and Lillian lowered the average age. Carly enjoyed drinking the pure, icy mountain water that gushed from the stone fountain, even though it gave her an upset stomach the first time. She also liked to chat with an old lady in a pink apron who was always there to do her laundry.

-Yes, I have a washing machine but I like to do it by hand. What are you doing here, girl? Lillian was talking about you.-

Carly was there to work on the mating of the giant alpine eagle:

-More eaglets than usual were born this year, isn't it wonderful? It's the animal I'm writing my thesis on.-

The eagle was not just a job or a beloved animal, it had become an emblem, a lifestyle for Carly: those birds, both free in flight and between her loving gloved hands, with their attentive eyes they seemed to say to her "aim high".

Leni had wanted to make sure Carly was happy with Viey and Lillian.

That Lillian girl was outstanding, she wasn't acclaimed as the best RNP ranger for nothing: John thought, and Leni agreed, that one day she could replace him. Lillian was a good person, but many struggled to relate to her. Most people couldn't take the supersonic flow of her speech, she could say a thousand words in two minutes; she never tired, she was restless, for most people she was _too much. _

But Leni had seen right through it, from what Carly herself had told her it seemed she would know how to handle Lillian. 

One night, lying in bed, Carly and Lillian talked for a long time and Lillian proposed that they jump from the high tower the following morning: ten days after becoming roommates, they still knew almost nothing about each other and Lillian wanted to share her favourite place with Carly.

-It's the place where I vent better, I can't wait to bring you tomorrow! I don't know if Leni told you, I'm hyperactive.-

-Ah, no doubt. If you didn't have your nine eggs for breakfast, before midday you would run out of energy. I'm glad you didn't pick the wrong outlet.-

Lillian was unable to fully contextualize Carly's last sentence, but was touched by her intuition. Was she hyperactive too?

Carly was a hard worker, she had a lot on her plate, but still gave her a lot of serenity: when Lillian wanted to talk and talk Carly allowed her, even if she was careful not to prolong the discussions unnecessarily. Carly seemed to get her, to understand her need for letting those streams of thoughts and words out. Carly really listened to her, Carly didn't ignore her.

Belly-up on the bed, Lillian watched her as she opened a bottle of water and took a pack of tablets from the dresser. That cupcake spoke very little about herself, but Lillian had speculated she was in a serious relationship since she took the pill every night, impeccably.

-I'd never want that stuff, I didn't take it even when I was with my ex. It'd disturb me to have synthetic hormones going around in my body.-

Lillian tied her hennaed, smooth and thick red hair (her best ornament) in a bun. Carly scowled at her:

-Don't tell me you're one of those _" Big Pharma will kill us all " _people.-

-Why? Who do you take me for?-

Carly had been in a relationship for three years, the pill was an old habit she didn't want to get rid of.

-We womankind always have to submit to invasive contraceptives, while all our partners have to do is wrapping their willy. Did you like being...filled?-

Lillian had hesitated to finish the sentence, overwhelmed by unusual modesty. Yes, Carly did, she had no problem admitting it; she laughed, why did Lillian make it sound like a vulgarity?

-Since you gave carte blanche to your ex, why is he ex then?-

-A long story. He got into trouble and one day three years ago he disappeared. I never saw him again. He was the one and for what it's worth, for me he completely eclipsed the whole of his sex * .-

Lillian had never heard of anyone talking about a boyfriend like that, let alone ex:

-…What was he like?-

-He was...I was the ugly duckling. Every time I saw him I used to think _"is this a real human being?"-_

Lillian watched Carly smile and blush as she made a nervous gesture and grabbed a plush snake from the headboard of her bed.

-He was also clever, and reckless, and cocky. He was like you, a restless fake extrovert. Maybe he was hyperactive too, I'll never know. We won this ugly thing together in Dream World. But that's enough, let's talk about something else.-

Talking a bit about it with Leni had unlocked Carly, she had started to learn to voice the pain and it had helped taking it away. But it had to be in small doses.

Lillian had so many questions. She wondered if she was the first person Carly was telling about that painful part of her life:

-Well, ex but not by choice...Do you know I understand why you liked that thing? As twisted as it may sound, I felt the same for my ex, even though he dumped me and I'm still mad at him. I was very much in love with him and if it weren't that I don't like invasive contraceptives, I would have let him...do that.-

-Did you just get shy?-

_Fake extrovert._

Lillian thought about how that description corresponded to her. Feeling happy with that conversation but also embarrassed, she wanted to turn off the light. She looked at sweet, sad Carly sitting on the bed in her pretty nightgown, the snake and the water bottle still in her hands:

-Anyway, as far as you are concerned, I'll fix you: some time here and we'll kick depression's ass. Tomorrow let's jump!-

/

Just above Viey there was an ancient bell tower, much older than the hamlet itself. That ruin had a special quality, being on top of a cliff overlooking the entire valley. A hundred metres below flowed the stream, from up there one could enjoy the view even better: Lillian and other co-workers had built a pastime there, and it had become a tradition for them to repeat once a week to keep the team spirit strong, as John said. They had attached elastic cords to the towers, and one could sit in a harness to bounce in the void.

Leni had already told Carly about it, insisting on how wicked and dangerous that practice was.

Thinking the executive was too old to appreciate that kind of things, Carly took place in the harness under Lillian's proud gaze; a tall, tanned man with curly hair helped her.

-Careful with my cupcake, Joel. It's her first time.-

All tied there, Carly caught two of Lillian's co-workers severely study her redhead skin, biologically incapable of produce decent quantities of melanin; Carly's physique wasn't perfectly athletic like those ranger girls', trained to go up and down the paths all over the day, every day.

It seemed they wanted to tell her "you won't survive here."

Carly instinctively thought that rangers were unpleasant by default, although in the end the one she had to live with was not like that. Before she could formulate a hypothesis on why those nasty folks wore no other uniform than a blue parka when it was cold, she found herself thrown off the cliff at a speed that made her scream.

Bouncing in that sling, the screams of fright had turned into screams of joy, it seemed to Carly that she could draw with a finger in the fresh and dusty snow of the Great Eden.

When her ride ended, John complimented her:

-So kudos to you. One in two of those guys threw up, the first time.-

The old man chuckled nodding to the boys and girls whose duty, he had hinted, was to have a certain physical prowess.

Carly didn't throw up, but taking off the harness she felt floating and had sat on a rock for a while, waiting for her insides to return to their original position.

She had feared so much to share her accommodation with Lillian, but already a month in their flatmate-ship she felt sorry that it was unlikely to meet at work. Lillian was the complete opposite of what Carly had feared, she seemed to understand her pain despite her totally different personality.

As the days passed, Carly found herself looking forward to coming home in the evening and telling Lillian about her day. She felt a little disappointed when they didn't meet at the flat, even if there was little time to feel sad: the young vet's days were even fuller now that she was an employee. Even if she mainly dealt with eagles, it seemed that she had a knack for helping other animals giving birth. When there was a birth at stake, they called her.

Fate was ironic: if Carly had chosen not to take care of children, now she took care of eaglets and little ibex, foals and lambs.

Before long, Lillian and Lillian had come so close to be ready for confidences. Out of the blue, while doing normal daily activities like sweeping the floor or making a bed Lillian asked deep questions about life, or started talking about very intimate things. That time, the top ranger had asked Carly point-blank while together they left Viey's square with a basket of fresh laundry:

-How was your first time?-

-It depends. _First first_ or second that counts as first?-

-First. For me, it was at his house.-

While Carly was passing her laundry to hang, Lillian had narrated how it had happened quite late by contemporary standards, she had already finished high school and the guy had been her first boyfriend:

-His parents were away...it was an exciting, long romantic night. Things you see in movies, ah! What about you.-

-No fairytale. A quickie in his Subaru.-

They laughed together. Even if she understood that Carly didn't want to talk about it, Lillian would have expected something more romantic.

-I told you, that was the second time.-

Lillian confessed that doing it in the car had always been her fantasy.

-... just avoid it. Of course, it changes if you're _inside the _car or _on the _car. But car it is, period. After that time I went home with a black eye.-

What had she said to her father? Dancing in the disco; she had bumped into something while dancing.

-Do you still see this ex, Lillian?-

-Oh dear...almost every day.-

Later, with all the laundry hanging drying in the lawn behind the chalet, Carly had settled against a wall to reread the notes she had copied on her cell phone, while Lillian sat under a tree with her tablet; she was frowning.

Hearing her friend continually puffing and slamming one foot on the ground, Carly had sat with her under the apple tree:

-What's up?-

She peered at the screen and saw some charts, photos of rocks and of the valley. Lillian sighed, throwing the tablet in the grass:

-It's a shitty situation. The mountain is about to come down on Noiresylve: John has given me the task of evacuating the village, I will have to tell those people to leave their homes...-

Lillian anticipated any kind of question Carly could ask: Northerners were attached to their homes, family heirlooms that had been passed on from generation to generation. She got to do the awkward job of telling the inhabitants of Noiresylve to move out or be crushed; she'd have to put up with their protests and complaints.

Carly was dismayed to see her new friend frustrated.

-Here is an impractical side of having to protect the people who live here, you often find yourself in this situation. What can you do when the mountain threatens to collapse, if not make them go away? It can come down in a month as in a day. What a situation...-

John would coordinate the displacement of people and the official issuance of a landslide alert. For the next few weeks it would not be convenient to wander around the northern sector of the RNP.

Who knew when the mountain would decide to raze Noiresylve: falling for falling, it didn't care.

Carly put her cell phone under Lillian's nose: she could not choose the colour of the dress she'd have worn for the discussion of her thesis, she was undecided between black and pastel green.

Perhaps happy with that distraction, Lillian squeezed her. She seemed to look at Carly as if to say that if her sense of fashion favoured practical hiking outfits, she still had standards:

-That pastel shade was made for you! You'd look sick in black, pastel all the way. When will you discuss your thesis?-

-In two years.-

/

Bruno had ended up following Lazuli. He had to promise Lapis that he would trust her no matter what.

And Bruno wanted to trust her: he wanted to talk to her, ask her a thousand questions, find together a way to frame the untouchable leader of the Commando Magenta.

But before he could get to the place where he hoped to find Lazuli, he received a call:

"_Captain Weiss? Am I talking to you? "_

A feminine, light voice. Absolute silence in the background.

A thin veil of sweat covered his forehead:

"This is Captain Weiss."

"_Yes, I'm looking at you right now. Get out of the car, lose the gun. If you turn right, you will see that I'm coming towards you unarmed. We need to talk."_

Without having time to close that nameless call, Bruno saw the infamous Cloe Mafia advancing towards him in a long white tulle skirt, and clinking bell sandals. He knew her face from pictures, but seeing a girl of such dainty appearance, and knowing her to be the most heinous criminal in the whole Central district had a strange effect on him.

-Your little friend has just come to talk to me, that's why I'm disarmed- she turned around with her hands up, showing Bruno her sincerity -I'm in a bad mood, she literally blew up my gun...I didn't feel like going back home and get my rifle, it's your lucky day, Weiss: it's not for everyone to trespass here without being riddled with bullets.-

Cloe paced towards Bruno's car, swaying her hips. She sat gracefully on the warm bonnet.

-We did you a favour, captain. Never mind that three years ago I had big plans ... I didn't have much satisfaction because the leaders of the Blacks disappeared, poof! You cops should be grateful, we took care of slaying the rest of that gang of petty thieves, lightening your schedule. Where we are, no other gang dares to go: simple, isn't it? In return, leave us alone.-

Bruno wanted to handcuff her and take her away; that woman was guilty of so many crimes that nothing could have saved her. Everyone knew it, but nobody said anything. Because Bruno knew that while he and Cloe looked alone, the gangster's henchmen surrounded him hidden in the buildings of the HQ. If he had dared to touch her, they would have killed him on the spot.

Cloe smirked, stroking Bruno's hair:

-I can't allow the Blacks to regroup again, I don't have time and resources to waste. Do you know what, officer Weiss? Tell that snooty albino, 'cause I know you'll see her sooner or later, that if she doesn't turn herself in I'll take care of your family. Ah, and that if she were there when I took over I would've locked her in a room with _her_ family: first I would've fucked the shit out of her lovely brother, don't misunderstand me captain, I'm a bad person but I hate waste. Then I would've slain him in front of her and her mother. I would've then slain the mother and, at last, her. But since they have now returned, it's not too late! I am Cloe Mafia and I collect dead enemies: other gangs, meddling cops, whole families. Today you got lucky, but both you and Lazuli must remember to leave to the Commando what belongs to the Commando.-

Cloe snapped her fingers and another woman appeared. She pulled Bruno's badge from his belt, while Cloe laughed at his being unarmed in that wrong place.

Bruno knew Cloe was serious; she was known for her harangues and arrogance, but everyone knew she stood by what she preached. However, at that moment the thought of Cloe having it her way and knowing to be untouchable, felt unbearable to Bruno:

-I am the law, here, for you; and before the law you'll need much more than a little trash talk.-

/

She watched Bruno move away with his chin up, while Cloe stared at him: Eighteen had heard everything, she ground her teeth so hard they squeaked.

When Bruno got back behind the wheel and started the engine, she stopped him:

-Why did you come to talk to that madwoman? Don't you understand you can't come to terms with her?-

-Lazuli...I know it wasn't you two. And we, the police, must prove it.-

Eighteen got in the car and watched Bruno drive and frown. She had no intention of telling him that she was about to sort things out with the Commando and didn't want the police to meddle: uncovering her cards with Bruno would perhaps have meant exposing her new nature, a risk Eighteen didn't want to take.

-You must stop chasing them.-

Bruno's touch on her shoulder filled her with melancholy.

-If the police don't think about it, who should protect the city? Mr. Satan?-

-For crying out loud, you have other colleagues.-

Bruno stopped the car not far from a toy store:

-Excuse me now, but I promised Amelia a stuffed animal. See you, Lazuli.-

Eighteen waited for him outside the shop, and seeing him come out with a stuffed bunny in his hand she stood in front of him:

-Amelia matters to you, doesn't she? Those people have no scruples and you must protect Sara and the girl, things that really matter! Don't sacrifice them for work, for glory, don't sacrifice them to that woman…-

Getting at the end of her sentence, Eighteen was amazed at how true her own words sounded to her ears too.

A family. _Things that really matter. _More than glory and victory. 

-But I want to make the difference.-

The captain walked towards the car escorted by two other officers, Lazuli chasing him:

-You're just stupid then!-

Eighteen was seeing red. What was the point of being so powerful if she couldn't even stop that crazy policeman from getting killed? She was still there on the sidewalk, in front of him, brooding.

Then, a distant whistle distracted her.

Eighteen had never loved things her brother was crazy about, cars, boats, firearms. She suddenly remembered that in their childhood she used to make fun of him when he said with unshakable conviction that he wished to learnt how to distinguish the noise of the various types of artillery. Now he could have, as a cyborg. But she, Eighteen, only heard the whistle.

She couldn't identify that low whistle coming from afar, a hiss, a light but terrible breath through the air.

If Seventeen were there, he probably would have understood what it was. If Seventeen were there, perhaps he would have shouted to those present to get on the ground, or perhaps he would have only made a discreet gesture with his hand. Nobody would have noticed anything.

But her twin brother was not there; when the whistle became clear and close, Eighteen had already felt the scratch on her back and the jingle of shrapnel raining on the sidewalk.

Bruno was still looking at her with a frown: he opened his mouth to speak but his breath was cut short when a horrible gash opened in his abdomen. The stuffed bunny fell to the ground, blood stained it.

The blow was so violent that Bruno was thrown against the window of the toy store, behind him.

People on the street started screaming and running; the cops hurried around their colleague, shouting in their walkie-talkies _"officer down! Officer down!"_

Bruno's hand was too small to cover his too large wound. He gasped at every breath.

-Shh, Bruno...-

With trembling lips, Lazuli leaned over him and took his other hand, whispering to calm him and comfort him in those last moments.

He sought her eyes:

-Lazuli. My Lazuli.-

Captain Weiss fixed forever in his memory the image of Lazuli's face, of her hair shining in the warm light of that late afternoon.

Eighteen never knew that Bruno had never forgotten her; she watched the whole volume of his blood disperse in a dark pool. A lone, small drop of water fell on Bruno's hand and rolled down. When Eighteen saw clear again, she realized it was a tear.

_Her_ tear.

/

Thoughts of the author:

In this chapter we have two very different situations: on the one hand the happy meeting between Carly and the bubbly ranger Lillian (her slippers are Wish or Aliexpress?), both passionate and excellent in their work; and on the other Eighteen who succeeds in shedding a tear before the gruesome death of Bruno, her first love: the continuation of this last scene will be part of the next chapter, _Lazuli_. We will have some Future 18 vibes!

I picture the Royal Nature Park (which exists in DB) as my favourite place in the world, the Gran Paradiso National Park (South-Western Alps); many toponyms and people that I invented are inspired by real places and people: my village, Vieyes, really looks like this "Viey" here: a few chalets, two fountains, an old oven and a church. And many of the few inhabitants are park rangers (and old ladies who handwash by choice); I couldn't help taking advantage of this small autobiographical part, it is my homage as an immigrant to the place that will always be in my heart.

Carly's snake, the same one that Seventeen mentions in chapter 10, is inspired by a stuffed animal that I owned for ten years, named Orochimaru "Orochoc" just so ugly and stupid-looking.

And what Carly says about Lapis, marked with an asterisk, is a small tribute to one of my favourite characters: Sherlock Holmes says that about the love of his life, Irene Adler.


	15. Lazuli

Seventeen had stayed home with Kate. Contrary to what he had expected, getting bored a little in a happy, protected and safe environment made him feel good.

He had come to that house as a little baby, carried by Kate in a car seat; he had lived there most of his life and now he was beginning to really remember those walls. He felt that house as his own. While mum worked in her office, a nice bright room on the ground floor that the boy had no memory of, he had idly spent a couple of hours in front of the TV, filling on popcorn and soda; then he had sat, mesmerised, watching the washing machine spinning clothes. Late in the afternoon he had heard Kate approaching him from behind.

-Am I a weirdo if I imagine this is a porthole that gives onto Space?-  
Kate typed on her cell phone and smiled at her son sitting on the ground, nose up towards her:  
-No, on the contrary, it's comforting. You liked it even as a child.-  
Looking at the washing machine, the cyborg meditated and remembered Botz.

-Hey mum. What if I brought a dog home?-

Kate knew how to use her narrow, cold eyes very well. He was glad he'd asked...

In any case Sixteen had taken him, since that traitor of a pitbull had adopted the android as a new master, completely forgetting him.

Out of the blue, Seventeen felt a strange omen in his heart: something told him it wasn't normal that Bruno Weiss and his sister hadn't returned yet.  
Mum was still wandering around the laundry room with the phone in her hand:  
-In a little while it's dinner time, your sister certainly will want no part in it. What are you hungry for?-  
Seventeen was sorry to tell his mother he wouldn't eat with her that evening:

-Another time. Do you know where Bruno lives?-

/

Without thinking, Seventeen had followed that instinct and found himself in the city, knocking on a window. He had no way of knowing where the captain was and he assumed he was still with Eighteen. It was six in the evening, Sara was playing with Amelia before putting her to sleep; she heard a noise coming from the master bedroom and almost had a heart attack seeing Lapis at the window.

Lapis with the mocking smile and the long hair, it was him indeed: time hadn't robbed him of his allure, Sara would have recognized him in a thousand. As it had happened with Lazuli, she spontaneously felt happy to see him. His voice came muffled by the double glazing:

-Sara, don't ask questions...they're coming. Stay up here with the baby, I'll be at the door.-

While Seventeen lurked at the Weiss' front door and concentrated on summoning that move he had made only once, but which promised awesomeness and fun, Sara had just stood in the baby girl's room. She didn't understand, once again she was confused: Lapis had told her in passing that Bruno was with Lazuli and that he was almost sure she and Amelia were in trouble. She had to trust him; the anxious mother suddenly understood, her heart stirred madly in her chest when she saw a car in the distance, coming from the countryside to her home. In the blink of an eye a group of armed men left the vehicle and ran to her door.

"_No!" _

Sara ignored how Lapis had foreseen their arrival, how he could have gotten there right at that moment. A retaliation by the Commando Magenta had always been, for Sara, a nightmare that was finally coming true. Bruno had risked too much over the last years and Cloe Mafia was now anxious to make him pay.

Bruno...short of breath, Sara grabbed Amelia and locked her in the bathroom. It hurt her to hear her baby cry and complain as she went down to the living room. Beyond the threshold of the wide open door Sara saw the men of Cloe Mafia all lined up on the sidewalk like a firing squad, between her and them only Lapis.

Alone. Lazily sitting on the ground.

-Lapis! That is _the Commando_, get lost!-

For Sara, gorgeous Lapis was nothing more than her friend's brother and incidentally also the classmate with whom she had shared the thrill of kissing, during the crowded and too short recesses in middle school; back then it seemed very risqué.

She was sure he no longer remembered those episodes of their early adolescence, but it came back to her. She was surprised to suddenly feel worried about his safety.

He nodded to her, inviting her to leave him alone.

Sara was so scared and upset that she couldn't protest or get angry. She could only observe. When she was sure that those gangsters would run over that crazy Lapis in their race towards her, Sara saw something that took her breath away.

Watching two of the gangsters run at full speed to cross the threshold and then bounce violently, it felt like being in a house of mirrors: instead of running straight into the room, the two men had taken a big knock to the head against a hard glassy thing, a mirror they didn't know was there. They now lay on the sidewalk, stunned and aching.

Lapis let out a laugh and waved at them. The others imitated the first two, one hit his head so hard he got a wide cut. Sara gawked in dismay as that same man charged the door one more time, struggling with punches and kicks against what seemed to block every entry into her home. Locked in the bathroom, Amelia kept crying; the furious kicking criminal was only a few centimetres from Lapis and Sara had the impulse to grab the boy and pull him away from the door. But as much as she pulled and clenched, his body didn't budge an inch.

-Aw, Sara. This feels nice.-

Seventeen winked mischievously, prompting the girl to release the grip on his chest.

-What's happening? They can't get in, ...-

Seventeen was having the best time, those thugs didn't have the faintest idea of what was going on. The moment the stubborn one still tried to cross the threshold, Seventeen got involuntarily pissed: a sizzle of electricity filled Sara's ears.  
Bruno's betrothed saw strange green flashes surrounding the man still crushing himself against the invisible glass. He screamed when the force of the shock threw him on the roadway; a bus that was passing at that time braked in time.  
Seventeen hadn't foreseen the shock: he glanced curiously at his force field electrocuting the henchman who had thrown himself against it, as commanded by his own mood.  
Another henchman grabbed his rifle and the bullets exploded against the barrier.

Near the stairs, Sara had curled up on the floor, stunned by that electric storm. Cloe Mafia's henchmen rushed towards Seventeen, but never crossed the Weiss doorstep. The cyborg snorted emphatically, seeing five more Commando guys dead on the ground; he always ended up killing someone every time he met them. This time it wasn't his fault, all he had done was try his coolest move just to avoid bloodshed before the eyes of another _basic human_; if those chumps had willingly thrown themselves into his shield, then it was on them.

However Seventeen liked it, he grinned contentedly: he had suddenly remembered that he knew how to project force fields, he had done it once against Piccolo and it was something unique he hadn't seen anyone else do. He decided he had to keep doing it, yes; they could have become his signature move someday. The force fields electrocuting anyone who came in contact with them was new to him too. Better, he had outdone himself.

Sara couldn't see anything, she struggled to understand what that wacko had done; and looking closely, she saw an iridescent film shining with green reflections in the light that entered the door.

-What was that?-

Still seated on the ground, Lapis turned to her, agitated breath and cold eyes:

-Don't you go anywhere near the door. Don't touch it.-

Initially Sara was not afraid; she grabbed a cushion from the sofa and attempted to throw it through the door. When she heard the electricity sizzle again and saw the pillow catch fire, her heart raced:

_"Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god..."_

Sara had nothing to say, and didn't want to understand. She ventured to observe the doorway again and no longer saw the iridescences. Glancing at the architect of that wizardry, she saw him get back on his feet and stretch.

Lapis looked relaxed. He raised a finger and admonished her, before going out:

-Go get your little girl now. No questions.-

He raised a hand politely in greeting and left Sara alone, while she watched him go away on the street with his hands in his pockets. She saw Lapis take possession of the vehicle with which Cloe's men had arrived at her house and followed him with her eyes, as he made his way to the Commando HQ.

/

Bruno had loved her.

He was such a frail creature, and she had let him die before her eyes. As she realized she had been crying, Eighteen suddenly felt lonely and vulnerable.

Instinctively a single thought flashed inside her, without Eighteen understanding the reason:

_"Seventeen, please, run! I need you!" _

After that last glance with Bruno, her first love, the cyborg turned around with her heart pounding and her teeth still gritted. She felt several holes in her top, at the height of the shoulder blades.

As an ambulance came and a mixture of cops, doctors and onlookers thronged the sidewalk Eighteen made out, far away on a roof, Cloe Mafia's silhouetted against the light. Her hair blew in the wind and the metal of her rifle gleamed.

Even though she was so far away Eighteen saw that lady of pain smile, before disappearing. She gave one last caress to Bruno's cold forehead. With infinite tenderness Eighteen lay his head on the sidewalk and under wide-eyed passersby took off, leaving a small hole in the granite.

Amongst the mute squalor of headquarters, the machine-woman knocked on the neat and elegant glass door.

-Ah, the girl on the train.-

When the door creaked on its hinges, Eighteen smelt metal and gunpowder; it was a smell of final sentence that hit her like a slap while her expression was already iron-like and chiselled before Cloe Mafia:

-Three things: first, my hair is just blonde, I'm not albino.-

Without waiting for a reaction from Cloe, Eighteen struck her in the face with a backhand that spun her around. She waited until the gangster was back in front of her and then grabbed her by the shoulders, calmly:

-Second: for captain Weiss and his family, you bastard.-

The pressure of her grasp hardly increased. Still dazed, Cloe had every intention of calling for back-up; she heard the popping of something being snapped and torn off, initially she felt nothing. She prepared to dial the number of her most cruel executioner, but when she saw Lazuli of the Blacks holding her two arms, torn from her torso, all the pain in the world invaded her. She screamed like an animal.

Eighteen dropped Cloe's limbs with a disgusted expression; she kicked the gangster to the ground, watched her squirm and scream for a moment. It seemed that the Commando leader had lost her mind.

Eighteen wasn't done yet: with slow gestures she slammed the door and pulled the curtains of what appeared to be a lobby. She understood there was a limit to the pain a human body could endure. However it comforted her to think that, now, she would have imposed the limit. She knelt and pulled hard on Cloe's hair, tearing off a lock.

Even though she screamed in pain, Cloe looked at her with the blackest contempt:

-Go to hell!-

Not impressed by the massacre she was committing, Eighteen listened to the gangster's gurgles and activated the tape recorder from the cell phone she had stolen from Bruno:

-Tell the truth about the burning of the train. Come on.-

Cloe gasped and spat on her tormentor:

-...you dirty whore. You fucked them all before disappearing, didn't you? Captain Weiss, yes. I'll have you rot you in prison at the cost of ending up dead: if you think I will...that I will surrender because you are strong, you are also an idiot.-

Eighteen wasn't disturbed. She jumped on the gangster as she had done with Vegeta when she had crushed his other arm; she treaded back and forth on the only two limbs she had left Cloe, not to kill her, to make her suffer. She stomped on Cloe's legs until her bones were completely crushed. The gangster woman's screams almost became a drug.

Hair and arms torn off and legs mangled, Cloe cackled. Lazuli could have had her, but even with her death the Commando would continue to conquer. Eighteen was fed up. She grabbed the woman by her jacket and lifted her off the floor with outstretched arms:

-Confess.-

She realized that Cloe was at the limit. Still holding her up, Eighteen gave her a ruthless knee that separated the gangster's right leg from her shin. Eighteen kept her lifted until Cloe screamed in a way so heinous the cyborg girl understood that the pain she was inflicting was now impossible.

-CONFESS!-

And then, Cloe began to speak. Her voice trembling with pain and hatred, she stated what had happened on that train three years earlier. Those words that would allow Eighteen and her brother to put their criminal life on the back burner, once and for all, were only a small thirty second audio file. Too fast to be recorded by any human brain, Eighteen stabbed Cloe in the abdomen with a metal tube. She pushed her back against the wall, holding her by the neck.

-Third: for even thinking of touching my family, be ashamed of existing. I bring you Lapis's regards.-

With Cloe's blood raining dark and heavy on her bosom Eighteen pulled the tube down, cutting the body of that wicked woman from the abdomen to the crotch.

She didn't look in her eyes. She swung her tube and smashed Cloe's skull. The tension subsided and the stress released its grip: Eighteen dropped her weapon and sat on the ground before that broken corpse. It was the worst thing she had ever done.

No energy, no flashing balls or blasting rays. Only her immense strength, fuelled by equally great anger.

Eighteen turned to watch those exposed, torn organs that still throbbed. She felt nausea rise, a feeling of suffocation; she vomited something acidic on the ground, only then did she feel better.

Eighteen didn't know how long she'd been half asleep on that floor, but a surge of energy forced her to wake up. Suddenly she found herself flung against a wall as torrid heat enveloped the room, transforming the building into ruins.

It felt like burning alive.

She heard a squeak and stepped aside to avoid a metal beam falling with infernal clang to the ground, carrying almost the entire upper floor with it.

-Knock knock! Anyone home?-

The cyborg girl heard a voice and knocks on the door; she ducked in time to dodge it, feeling the wrought iron brush the tips of her hair before crashing into the opposite side of the lobby. Eighteen saw his silhouette in the doorway. She peeked beyond the door frame and all she saw was ruins, destruction. Such a rapid wipe-out on that scale could not have been performed by entirely human hands. His clothes were a little scorched, he must have blasted himself while razing the entire headquarters of the Commando.

-Ah, there you are! Everything crashed down, out here; I left this building standing because I suspected you were here.-

It looked like he was holding a machete, or an axe. There, against the light with that weapon in hand and his dishevelled hair he had something heroic about him that made the oldest twin proud. But Eighteen's enthusiasm deflated when he seemed to bite off a piece of his weapon.

"_There he goes..."_

What was Seventeen doing with a huge steak on the bone in his hand? He shrugged,

-It was the bandits'. I took them out, but I hate waste.-

Wrinkling his nose, he looked at what remained of the building in which he had found his sister. He stopped a few steps away from her and swallowed his mouthful whole:

-Bloody hell. You were angry.-

-She had it coming.-

-Can I count the pieces?-

Eighteen gave him a flat look. He rummaged in his pants pocket and threw Bruno's badge at her.

-Where did you find it?-

-One of those mobsters had it.-

Seventeen threw the bone to the ground, picking the meat from his teeth:

-Give it back to Sara.-

Sara was alive!

-Why me? You found it.-

-We'll give it back together, okay? I just thought the gesture would have more value if done by you.-

/

When he had razed the headquarters, Seventeen had raided every mobster den until he found the captain's badge and that good steak. Then, on his way in search of Eighteen, he had recognized a familiar step and a barking on the hot ground.

_"Ah, fancy meeting you here." _

He smiled, reaching out to pet Botz. Like every time it was in the presence of that strange, clear-eyed animal the burly pit bull had lowered his ears and yelped but had ended up surrendering to the gentle touch. Thinking to be fast enough it had tried to bite the steak.

-Nope, you phony.-

Seventeen gave it up. It was clear that dog would now stay with his friend, Botz had practically adopted Sixteen. What a phony indeed...

-And so you killed them all.-

Standing near the dog Sixteen had looked at the cyborg; Seventeen didn't care, he couldn't allow the Commando to create further troubles. He believed that extreme ills call for extreme remedies; it was clear that, however uncomfortable it felt, eradicating that cancer from the city was something that had to be done.

If Sixteen obstinately insisted on never killing (unless it was about Goku, who was dead anyway) that was his problem. Still scratching the dog, Seventeen gave Sixteen a gently mocking look:

-What will you do now? Be Vegeta's roommate for life?-

-I respect Captain Bruno Weiss. I know he's dead. I want to do what he did. –

An android being a cop, why not? Sixteen saw the dimples appear on the cyborg's cheeks. Since Son Goku was no longer an option, it was only fair that Sixteen found a purpose. Eighteen's goal was an intimate, low-key life; Sixteen's, a life dedicated to protecting. But Seventeen didn't yet know his own, he felt a little empty in hearing Sixteen's question.

-This planet needs protection. Its people, its nature. What will you do?-

All that remained of the reign of the Commando was a now battered building whose glass and wrought iron door, although plied by the heat of Seventeen's energy, was still recognizable. The cyborg had paced in that direction, anxious to meet Eighteen again:

-I'll start by picking up my sister and going back to our mother. We ditched her again.-

/

Eighteen turned the cold badge over in her palms. Sara...She felt mortified. She had felt free after killing Cloe Mafia, that woman would no longer be a threat and the confession she had extorted her would have meant tranquillity for both them and Kate, but all that had been paid for with Bruno's life. When Eighteen had left home after talking with him she had promised to fix things. Now, a family was incomplete.

-You're sad because you didn't save Bruno. Ask your midget, I think he will know how to fix it.-

Seventeen fondly messed up his sister's hair, seriously convinced of the last sentence he had said.

-Come, Eighteen. Sixteen and mum are waiting.-

The cyborg girl grabbed the hand her twin brother held out to her. When she got to her feet, she hugged him. She squeezed her favourite person, that boy only a handful of centimetres taller than her (without heels). Eighteen thought of the words she herself had said to Bruno: her brother was something that really mattered. And she recalled that desperate cry for help she had made in her thoughts at the moment of Bruno's death, in a moment of lucidity:

-Thank you, Seventeen. Maybe all this wasn't completely useless.-

-No, thanks to you; _you_ saved the Weiss girls. Even if the one doing cool shields is me.-

Seventeen knew why his sister had thanked him. Suddenly he understood why he had felt the need to go to Bruno's house, he had grasped the nature of the instinct that had guided him there before the Commando arrived. The instinct that had then taken him to the headquarters. That instinct was _her_, Eighteen.

He rested his chin on his sister's head, feeling deep inside that if there was one thing that neither Gero, nor Cell nor all their misadventures had changed, it was what he and she were: two siblings united by the deepest bond, something only theirs. Nothing that nobody could ever sever.

/

A few days after the inexplicable fire-earthquake that had hit only that part of Central City, numerous theories had started to flourish here and there. Someone had sworn to see three people with a dog, standing and arguing in that place that no longer existed, the headquarters of the Commando Magenta. For better or worse, no member of the monster gang had survived.

The catastrophe had engulfed buildings and bodies indiscriminately and five other members of the gang were found on the main street of the city. Sara had mentioned a malfunction of the grounding of her house, or maybe it was the pylon nearby.

_"This is obviously fake news, mistakes and inaccuracies." _

Mr. Satan was now also an expert on natural disasters.

_Z TV_ had invited him to talk about that extraordinary phenomenon.

"_Cell must have started this trend, wrecking things with special effects! But you people listen to me, I understand what's going on, I'm the world champion!" _

Kate looked at the TV, rolling her eyes to the words of that buffoon:

-Are you sure you don't know anything?-

Lapis and Lazuli looked at her, a little offended: was she calling them a demolition company?

-Really nothing?-

Kate didn't want to ask too many questions, but as always she knew her kids. Even as cyborgs.

The Commando no longer existed. For the first time in three years people were free to walk in that part of the Centre capital. Indeed, they ran there by the hundreds, lighting torches, playing music, waving banners.

Now one could eventually breathe a real air of freedom. With all that freedom around, Kate wondered about the fate of her children. What would become of them now?

She knew she couldn't keep them with her for the rest of their lives. The answer came one day from Lazuli.

-Mum...do you think eleven years is too big a gap for it to work out? To be a together.-

-Are you talking about Krillin?-

-Maybe...-

Eighteen felt relieved to remember that Krillin had been one of the people who had made her and Seventeen meet Kate again.

Oh, Krillin.

Remembering also this detail, Eighteen felt something tugging at her heart and the desire to smile. Kate smiled too, with downcast eyes and an enigmatic giggle that her daughter could not fully understand:

-It can work out. Eleven years is nothing.-

Seventeen was right, if there was anyone who could help her bring Bruno back to life, it was him. Krillin had, with those magical spheres, repopulated the Earth after the _Cell situation_. But Eighteen was aware that Bruno wasn't the only reason.

Eighteen always thought she wanted to go knock on that pink house in the middle of the sea. She wanted to go to Krillin.

-Mum, I'm happy to have found you and I would be here with you forever. But Krillin…if I have to thank anyone in all this mess, it shall be him.-

Kate wondered who Krillin really was. She had refused to get to know him during that car trip, but apparently he had made her daughter fall in love: she imagined a man capable of loving her and at the same time intriguing her, defending her but also keeping up with her. Kate was convinced that her cyborg daughter was always the same Lazuli who was never satisfied. Eighteen couldn't help but notice how, almost against her will, the sadness had fallen subtly on her mother's gaze.

-You are the person who gave me life, I would never want to disappoint you. I could wait, stay here with you a little longer.-

-No, my child! Life doesn't wait.-

Kate grasped Eighteen's hand with emotion, while tears that didn't want to roll down lit her eyes. At that moment, Kate's eyes literally looked like gemstones. Eighteen felt moved, seeing them.

-Are you 100% positive about this person?-

Kate couldn't help but ask her, even if she deduced that if Lazuli was really ready to leave towards horizons that were unknown to her, it must be worth it. And in the end Kate knew it, she had to let her grow.

-I know I won't ever regret my decision.-

Eighteen had firmly nodded. Never had Kate seen her so confident.

Seventeen, of course, already knew everything; the night before her departure the twins had done the tribal covenant again, just to be safe.

-We are now more tribal than the real tribes!- she had laughed, throwing her pillow into the air.

-No, now we are vampires: I must have drunk three hectolitres of your blood!-

They looked at each other for a long time, then he broke that melancholic silence:

-Are you really sure? Do you think that guy will make you happy?-

-I don't know, I just accept it.-

-You'll go blindly like that?-

-I've found the meaning I want to give to my life. I will bring Bruno back and then live in peace with Krillin.-

Before leaving, Eighteen wanted to speak to Seventeen. She still couldn't believe the incredible dream she had had a few nights before: she was a spectator of a scene from the past, in which she watched a girl with an indefinite face throw herself into her brother's arms. He saw him grasp her waist firmly and hold her against him, while she kissed his mouth in an absolutely intimate way, a mixture of passion and jealousy. At that moment she knew that the girl and Seventeen had really existed. And she also knew what she wanted. She wanted to kiss Krillin with that intensity, she wanted for himself what she had felt between Seventeen and his redhead.

Seventeen reacted with a sigh, Eighteen thought she saw a spark in his eyes. The longing that that everlasting memory aroused him was desperate and visceral, so powerful that it hurt. It was as if something inside him tore and bleed every time he thought about it, and when the summit of pain passed, it left him exhausted and demoralized. If _she_ had really existed, and now he knew she had, she was still a human.

Conscious of what he had become, it was for the benefit of all that he stayed away from her, that they kept their distance forever.

-So, does it end like this? Do you want to surrender to the script the ignoble Gero wrote for you? Don't give up on living. Don't give up the right to be happy.-

Eighteen refused to believe that Seventeen wanted to throw in the towel. But there was nothing more to do, she was a nameless human and he was a cyborg. The distance between them was enormous. Even if he managed to get her back, Seventeen had no guarantee that she would be there for him and _would want_ to be with him.

Eighteen and he had already talked about it and she had filed the topic under some _self-control_ label, but Seventeen couldn't see how it would be feasible for him to _love_ a person who could risk her life only to his touch. Who knows.

However, he had hugged Kate and she was still whole.

-She is real. Go, find her and live happily with her: I know how much you want her.-

So, that girl had Eighteen's blessing.

-And how do you know?-

-I feel it when you talk about it, I feel it in you. This and more.-

-More? Tell me.-

Eighteen smiled diabolically:

-Well, bro, if you really want to know… I can literally see when you are _too_ _excited_.-

Eighteen saw her brother get moody as his cheeks blushed; she chuckled, thinking it was funny and he shouldn't be ashamed.

-So what now? Should I still look you in the face?- he murmured.

-As you wish, I will go to live free. And you always remember that you are what you choose to be. Don't let our trials be the only thing that defines you.-

They greeted each other only with a glance before she flew away into the future.

Kate could understand the very long goodbye they had said in those moments.

_See you soon, remember me, don't forget me_.

Kate hadn't even noticed that her daughter could fly.

/

Eighteen knew where to go. She flew for an indefinite time, seeing the landscape change underneath her until the land left room for the sea and many islands. She hurriedly saw the pretty pink wooden house in the middle of the crumbs of land of an archipelago and landed, knocked on the door.

Tien, the man with a third eye on his forehead, opened it for her:

-Krillin! Come down, the cyborg is here...uh, which one are you?-

-Eighteen.-

When the little man came to the door, both he and Eighteen greeted each other with a smile, their hearts in their throats. He didn't have time to speak, she entered and took him by the hand, dragging him to the sofa.

Krillin motioned to his friends / roommates to go out and, trembling, sat down next to Eighteen:

-Hi.-

-Hey…-

So, she remembered him. She hadn't lied to him when she had said _"see you"._

And now? They stared at each other for a long time, dark eyes promising_ "I will work hard to always make you happy"_ and blue eyes answering _"I know"._

So, thinking back to the impetuous and erotic kiss that the red-haired girl had given to her twin brother, Eighteen rushed forward to kiss that childish, delicately pink face. She closed her eyes and squeezed Krillin's soft neck as she took his arm and wrapped it around her waist. Eighteen kept kissing Krillin passionately until he broke away from her, looked at her tenderly and shouted to the other inhabitants of the house, who peeked out of the windows, to leave. 

/

Thoughts of the author:

You know why Kate giggles at Eighteen's question about age gaps in couples? Well, Kate is thirty years younger than the twins' father…


	16. Out of the Woods

Thunder still rumbled in the sky.  
It had threatened to rain since noon with those puffy, dark, unfriendly clouds. A few droplets of rain were starting to fall from the fully overcast sky.

He wiped his face with the palm of his hand, not to allow the rain to distract him by making his eyes close.  
That thick curtain shielded him from her, but she could have emerged from above any moment, like lightning; she would've only been much more painful.  
Without the chance to see her and perceive her _ki _, Krillin felt reckless.  
And he knew it was a game of senses, he had to play and use his hearing: that was what she was training him for.  
Thunder rumbled again somewhere. He had only taken a split second to turn his head to the noise, but he regretted it. He could barely shield his face.  
When his forearm collided with the other one on which even a sword had broken, the impact caused another thunder and a burst. Krillin made an effort not to shout when that contact gave him a clean cut from the elbow to the little finger. His forearm was surely shattered, but he went ahead and used it to hit her. She laughed avoiding the blows, not disturbed by his blood mingling with the rain, up in the sky, under the clouds illuminated by lightning. Krillin could nudge her in the face and felt proud, but when he saw the red smear on the corner of her lips, the same lips he had kissed before shooting up into the air, he bitterly regretted his move. He worried seriously, for a moment feeling no longer a warrior but an abuser.  
But she opened her mouth and laughed; narrowing her eyes, she showed him only the tip of her tongue. She licked the scratch and cleared her throat:  
-Pussy.-  
Was it possible that after every single time he landed a hit on her, Krillin had to ruin everything?  
He flew fast until she grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him up as if to expose him to the lightning that occasionally pierced the clouds.

-Woah , Eighteen! I was just sorry ... –

-Oh heck; I'm your opponent right now. You see a pretty girl and get distracted, that's all it takes.-

-Not any girl, you.-

Krillin was definitely not a guy who got charmed by every woman he saw, in part because when it came to women his self-esteem was non-existent. Secondly, women had broken his heart more times than he could count; but that one there, the girl in mid-air near him not only distracted him, she bewitched him. Completely.

He was crazy for Eighteen, he wasn't afraid she saw it. He still didn't believe it: he was traveling around the world with her, because almost a month earlier she had asked him.

_"Is it_ _for me that you came here?" _

_"For two reasons. You are one, yes. " _

_"And the other?" _

_Outside the Kame House, the gentle waves creaked against the tiny pebbles and pieces of shells that decorated the shoreline; Eighteen stared at them for a moment, hypnotized. Krillin's question had brought her back to Earth. _

_"... I know you want me too, that you really like me, I think you've wanted me since you first saw me. And I've given it a lot of thought since I woke up on that floor, in the sky: I want to be with you. But first of all, I need you to help me bring a someone I care for back to life. " _

That rainy day would mark the last leg of that trip that still felt like a dream to Krillin : the three-star Ball was hidden somewhere in those old mines. The search had taken them around the world, equipped with only a small suitcase and Bulma's Dragon Radar. Fortunately Roshi still had one at Kame House, it had saved Krillin and Eighteen a trip to Capsule Corp. and a further waste of time in resurrecting her first boyfriend.

"_Seriously, Krillin ? You really are smitten, that hottie asks you to resuscitate the guy who did the biggest score and you just say yes?" _

_That time, Roshi had first became acquainted with the cyborg's superfine hearing: _

"_They call you _Master_ Roshi, but you seem retarded to me. He has a family, I want to do it for them. " _

She had nothing to prove to that Roshi but she preferred that nobody misinterpreted her intentions: after all for Krillin's friends and allies she was still a machine, a threat, something guilty until proven innocent. Perhaps for the first time in her life, Eighteen wasn't trying to use a man. Even Bruno, whom now she appreciated so much, back then had been only a means, a passport to show to her mother and free herself from childhood. She had ended up going out with him for eight months, but the driving force behind her attachment to him hadn't been love.

Krillin, on the other hand, was the reason she had chosen to part with her brother and Kate. He had taught her to dream, to hope. That she could choose to live peacefully. They had left on the same day she had arrived at Kame House. The Dragon Balls, those stones Eighteen had seen at Kami's Lookout, could be anywhere: on mountain tops, on the ocean floors, in the nest of giant toads.

Knowing how to fly and having a radar, they could have found them all in a few hours but following that newfound complicity, both had silently agreed on taking advantage of that opportunity to spend time together. Without the various Roshi and Yamcha ogling Eighteen's rear when they weren't busy gossiping on her biomechanical nature.

Krillin too was tired of hearing them talk about how eager they were to feel his girlfriend's buttocks, to see if they felt as real as they looked.

Before leaving, Krillin had rummaged in Yamcha's bedside table and had taken away a good deal of condoms. Yamcha kept them there as a lucky charm, anyway.

"_I'm sorry about the guys, at home. The Kame House isn't the best place to get to know each other, we should wait for a better time."_

She had looked at him with malice:

"_Don't worry. I'm patient." _

They had taken the high road for their trip, enjoying at every Ball the different landscapes and people the Earth offered, sleeping in motels and B & Bs, or also in the outdoors. Places where no one could peek at them and interrupt them. They fell asleep lying close after long, tireless kissing sessions, eager to reach that _more_ they kept on promising each other, yet always holding back because of something that wasn't modesty or uneasiness.

Eighteen had already memorized all the places they had seen, but one had really left a mark on her. It was that time with the seven-star Ball, the radar had brought them up to a tranquil maritime landscape in the North. White crumbly cliffs soaked in deep turquoise waters, a cool breeze had ruined all their selfies covering Krillin's face with Eighteen's hair. They could have flown to the spot where the Ball hid, underwater, nestled in a cliff standing lonely in the middle of the sea, but they rented a rowboat. Krillin insisted that Eighteen let him row and looked at her with loving eyes as she stretched out against the bow, kissed by the sun and tickled by the wind.

-How are you and Son Goku friends?-

-Eh, we were kids. He was Roshi's pupil, I wanted to be too and we became best friends.-

He laughed with his heart seeing from behind his sunglasses Eighteen raising an eyebrow:

-Yes, Master Roshi is a great martial artist. You wouldn't say, would you?-

-If he was your best friend, how come he didn't come back to life?-

-It's complicated ...-

They competed to swim to the foot of the cliff and fish out their fourth sphere. In the soft light of the depths, the rocks looked like mythical landscapes and Krillin had gotten distracted. Eighteen had seen the Ball first and kicked him away.

When the night had fallen, they had taken shelter into a kind of cave, there on the cliff in the middle of the sea. They had talked and shared a simple dinner, ham sandwiches. Eighteen had accepted hers, too listless to engage in that conversation with the shorty who always asked her why she refused to eat, since she could.

They had lit a little bonfire and started telling spooky tales that only sounded funny:

-... and so the witch of the Tenth Bridge cursed the couple who had stayed in that hotel. When they went to bed later that night, a demon of the dark, with empty orbits and black skin, grabbed them from under the sheets. And _bam_ , if I had been in their place I would have incinerated it, end the story.-

Eighteen could tell stories: walking furtively around the fire, she occasionally jumped with her hands on the sides of her face, mimicking strange monsters.

-Do you remember this story from when you were human?-

-No, I made it up now.-

That mimicking had turned into an uncoordinated dance, dictated by Krillin's laughter and Eighteen's cheerful cries. She wanted to let off steam, realizing how clumsy she must look she laughed even more. The dance was followed by those kisses, a pattern they had learned by now: for the first time the kisses had accompanied the mutual removing of clothes and shoes, and before realizing it Krillin had found himself towering over that tall and proud girl now lying on the bare earth of the cave, at his disposal. He had filled his eyes with every detail of her sweaty skin, the bonfire playing with the pale hue of her hair and projecting dawn-like reflections. He looked at the nearly translucent skin of that creature who could kill him with one squeeze; a skin so clear and thin that he could see the paths of the veins going up without interruption from her thighs to her belly, to her breasts, neck and arms. He was almost moved by her beauty that seemed so great to him, irrepressible and yet concentrated in those blue veins and delicate pink nipples.

-Oh my. You look beautiful...-

Eighteen didn't remember what she had felt the last time a man was inside her; however she knew that her new, extraordinary tactile sensitivity was something impossible; and the way her body -even before her mind- wanted the man who now burying his face and hands in her breasts and between her legs, was not an everyday thing.

She found herself moaning shamelessly, arching her back for him and asking him to go deeper with each thrust; she wanted to overwhelm the man's flesh with her own. Since that time, they had dedicated themselves to each other with love and passion. Eighteen had spent nearly a month like that with the man she had chosen, feeling the warmth of life on her skin. She congratulated herself for having chosen to be happy, surely Gero was turning over in his grave thinking of that earthling making his beautiful creation cry out every day. Day by day life had turned intense, rich, pure: in that month Eighteen had lived more than she had done until then.

She also felt like she had known Krillin for much longer, she was comfortable with him. It seemed natural to undress for him. They were never tired of loving each other. Krillin hustled over her almost in awe, having someone so valuable in his arms made him feel privileged, always dying to make her his, and at the same time always gaping at her. She was something higher and otherworldly.

When he saw only a few more centimetres of her skin he tried hard to restrain himself: just looking at her urged some of his functions to manifest with disastrous timing.

Krillin liked lying on her and feeling her breathing on his head, her breasts pressed against his torso. He didn't fathom how others could think that Eighteen anything but a living woman, perhaps they had to search for "cyborg" in the dictionary.

For her part, Eighteen rejoiced in the physical prowess of the strongest human on Earth, he always left her satisfied. She liked to play, sometimes she behaved like a diva and she rode him without saying a single word, while others she could beg him on her knees. She also loved a little romance, like when they were in the water and he carried her in his arms walking on the seabed, or when he gave her small cute kisses on her nose. During that trip Eighteen realized she had never known the smile of love; she had always believed she was light years ahead of her brother, when in reality she was behind.

However, she didn't want to delude herself: she didn't want to say those words, _I love you_, to Krillin because their story was still too green, she was still in on time to be treated as a hole or a trophy. But the more the days passed, the less Eighteen stayed vigilant. And she didn't know whether to rejoice, or not.

That wandering and searching had led them to those old mines in the East to the three-star Ball, the last one. The radar chimed persistently in Krillin's pocket . Up in the clouds, Eighteen raised an arm and emitted a large sphere of energy just as lightning was about to hit the two of them. The moment the lightning touched Eighteen's energy, the sphere exploded with a roar and she laughed heartily:

-Come on, let's get out of here before this weather fries you.-

He followed her to the ground, still stunned: that girl was even stronger than the elements. It was impressive. His injured arm still hurt, he groaned.

-What is it, Kril? Oh ...-

In the mines, before they could knock down a tall pile of limestone, white as bone, Eighteen gently took the limb she had hurt and nonchalantly placed Krillin's hand over her neckline:

-I know, senzu beans…-

She took the small bag from his pocket and held the green pulse between her fingers. With a rapid gesture, she put it on her tongue: that was where Krillin was supposed to get it from.

-What a pity...now if I want to heal I have to kiss you again...-

Shortly after, the seven spheres were gathered at the couple's feet. Exactly as it had happened at Kami's Lookout, Eighteen saw and heard the dragon Shenron. She couldn't take her gaze off his green body and red, demon-like eyes.

-Come on, Eighteen. Make your wish.-

Krillin unconsciously stroked her back while looking at Shenron. The cyborg girl had thought many times about what she would say to the dragon. How to bring a dead man back to life? Should she specify to the dragon to make him forget he had died and to distort the circumstances of his resurrection, so that no one would notice?

-Bring Bruno Weiss back to life. As smoothly as you can.-

She felt anxious: she had already seen Shenron turn down a wish once, what if he did it again?

Krillin stroked her harder while the dragon's eyes lit up:

-Your wish has been granted.-

This time, Eighteen hadn't had the time to feel her stomach clench, as it happened in times of crisis: it was over before she could get an anxiety attack, in the blink of an eye the dragon was gone and, once again , the Dragon Balls were projected to the four corners of the world. Still incredulous, Eighteen stood gawking at the dark rainy sky with her face in her hands:

-It's done...-

Krillin held her waist and, as happy as she, hugged the back of the woman he loved, listening to the beat of her heart.

-It's done, babe.-

/

Bruno felt a severe headache gouge his eyes out and tear apart his temples. It felt like having an anvil resting on his forehead, the blood throbbed hard in his ears. He snapped his eyes open, unable to sit up. He found himself in a large room full of cot beds, many people came and went. Observing them briefly he saw they were all a little scruffy, battered. They looked like homeless people. He felt his torso and arms, realized he was wearing jeans and a shirt instead of his uniform. However, his attire looked as elegant as black-tie compared to what those people were wearing.

He felt more beard on his face than he remembered; not having a mirror available, he relied only on his touch: perfect, he too was a homeless guy.

-Time to leave, come on! Come back at eight tonight!-

His eyes still veiled by sleep and migraine, Bruno watched the tall burly man patrolling the big room and hurrying everyone out:

-Excuse me, what place is this?-

The man looked at him in amazement:

-…it's the homeless shelter in High Gate, Central City. You finally woke up, wait a minute: Gladys !-

He looked kindly at Bruno as the sound of rapid, small steps was getting closer.

High Gate, sure he knew where it was. Wasn't that the neighbourhood where he had stopped to buy Amelia's bunny? He wondered what he was doing in a homeless shelter. Gladys, a pretty ruddy lady, greeted him with a warm smile:

-Oh! I'm glad you woke up, you've been sleeping here for two weeks. We didn't take you back to the hospital because we found out you were fine enough.-

She looked at the young man's coffee-coloured healthy complexion and felt comforted:

-Do you remember your name?-

They had told him that two weeks earlier other homeless people had found him asleep on the street still wearing a hospital gown, a plush toy and a torn uniform in a bag, in his hands: he seemed to have escaped from the hospital where he had had stitched up that big wound he still felt on his abdomen, without needing to see it.

He had woken up every now and then, Gladys told him, but only to go back to sleep.

He hadn't been able to give the shelter staff a name or recent memories. Bruno didn't understand much about that speech, his lack of references disturbed him; but if he had really been sick, it made no sense to expect much from himself.

-Captain Bruno Weiss. I have to go home, my baby girl is waiting for me.-

In introducing himself he had had the impulse to show his badge, but with surprise he hadn't found it on his waist.

/

Sara hadn't heard from Bruno since his co-workers had called to say he was headed to the hospital in a desperate race against time. Up to now, she had been convinced that Bruno had already died when he had come under the knife; Sara even remembered attending his funeral. But, inexplicably, those two facts suddenly became a clouded thought in Sara's mind. Now she seemed to remember that Bruno had fled the hospital, perhaps trying to go back to her and Amelia. In his conditions, he mustn't have made it home.

Who knows where he was now.

-Dada?-

Amelia had started talking early: now, nearly nine months old, it was her dad she was always looking for. And every evening, taking her to sleep with her in the big bed, Sara cried for the impossibility of satisfying that need.

When she heard the doorbell ring, Sara hesitated: after that incident with the pylon and the grounding, she had been afraid to touch it, even though she knew that everything was now fixed.

-Sara? It's me. I forgot the keys.-

She winced, hearing her boyfriend's voice outside the door. And when she opened and saw Bruno smiling with his well-groomed short dreadlocks and a beard of at least two weeks, it didn't interest her to ask him where he had been, what had happened, if she had really attended his funeral.

She shouted "my love!" and let herself be lifted and twirled in his arms, on the sidewalk out of their doorstep. On that August evening, passersby applauded that passionate kiss, a frame extracted from a romantic movie just for them, a small bit of paradise between the travertine and the street lamps of that elegant city avenue. And in the general enthusiasm nobody noticed a presence on one of those street lamps; Seventeen had landed there just before, clutching Bruno's badge. He hadn't thought he could give it directly to the captain, apparently Krillin and Eighteen had already made a wish to the dragon, they were faster than he. He graciously watched Bruno and Sara kiss again and again.

Later, while Sara was resting on Bruno's chest in the fresh bedsheets, she was drawn to another noise on the balcony. She quickly slipped on a dressing gown and went out into the evening breeze. Sara didn't know who to feel grateful to for having Bruno back, but collecting her fiancé's precious badge from the balcony and crying with relief, she knew that from that moment on it would be all right.

/

It was half past six in the morning when Carly locked the door to her apartment. She hummed and fumbled with the keys, ready for another hectic but satisfying day. If two months earlier they had told her that another, new friend would have unconsciously helped her to let go, she would have also been mad. But now as she stared blankly at the neighbours' fence and the early autumn sun shone gently on her back, she thought she had finally made it. Maybe, maybe she was letting go. Finally she felt at peace.

-Lillian ?-

The vet student turned around following a voice and saw a tall man coming from the square; she observed curiously the thick beard and the high, short ponytail right on his crown, an island of hair in a sea of sun-baked skin.

-Hello! Are you Lillian , by any chance?-

-No, the roommate. Lillian should come back in moments.-

Lillian had left home early to have her morning jog. Every now and then she went up to the Pessy plain, a large prairie nestled among the peaks above Viey at almost three thousand metres above sea level.

The first time Lillian and Leni had brought Carly there, she had experienced a sort of phobia: the plateau was something huge, a space so vast it seemed suffocating and distorted by a lens. Her voice and every other sound had gotten lost between the grasses and the sky. The path to the plain was a hard one, it stole Carly six hours between trips each time. Lillian came and went in two or a little more, each time bringing fresh flowers to display in the kitchen. After seeing her do that Carly had convinced herself that Lillian wasn't a normal human being. She wasn't the top of the top for nothing, after all. The veterinarian invited the man to take a seat on the bench outside the chalet; he saw that despite her gentle gestures, she was waiting for him to let her leave. She was probably late for work, she was now walking towards her car; he was moved to see that adorable, sunburnt ginger so uncomfortable in front of a perfect stranger who had come on purpose to her house.

-Take it easy! I have to work with her, that's why I'm here.-

/

Lillian watched Viey getting closer and closer: she came down along the path with a spring in her step, happy to have surprised many ibexes, at dawn, graze undisturbed in the plain. She was satisfied, it seemed that the ibex population was stable that year, although from what John said there were less than usual. The more the poachers, the less the ibex. Hunting was a common practice in the rest of the North, but was strictly forbidden in the RNP; yet, they all had to come there. Despite being a fan of game, Lillian couldn't understand how one could appreciate a severed and embalmed head in their living room. And she was almost sure of having to drag a poacher down the valley that morning, after giving a few slaps if necessary. The last time she found herself in front of a large herd of roe deer she also had to put the barrel of her rifle between herself and a "hunter". But that had been a perfectly clear morning, the top ranger had only met hikers at the cabin in the middle of the Pessy plain, gathered around a steaming cauldron. Seeing the ibex had made her happy, she had even forgotten to bring home those beautiful giant daisies that looked so pretty in the prairies, but smelt like feet in the house. From Viey's square Lillian didn't spot any parked car, the Carly girl had already left. Convinced not to be seen, she went home skipping and singing.

She certainly didn't expect to find someone sitting comfortably on her bench waiting for her, but suddenly she remembered. Leni had told her that a few days earlier they had hired new people, in all probability she would have had a rookie to instruct. John always told her that being the best also involved that kind of responsibility, educating others.

-Lillian , is that you?-

-Hey there..._Ragnar_?-

-I'm Brent, but thanks for "_Ragnar" _!-

Lillian glanced with amusement at him, he looked like a cross between a hipster and a Viking. He seemed to be a few years older than her, but that full beard made him look older. She had even more fun when he widened two already large, sky-blue eyes:

-Shit, you look grand. A mighty Valkyrie.-

Lillian had difficulty imagining the Valkyries drenched in sweat, flushed and sticky in their blue microfibre shorts and bra. She raised an eyebrow, thinking that if John had sent him, she gotta keep hm.

-Shut your mouth, before flies go in. You know I'm your senior, right?-

By chance, just a few days before, John had exchanged a few words with some hikers. They were a local family, lovers of the RNP and mountaineers for years. The chief ranger had chatted a lot especially with the eldest son, an enthusiast of history and historical reenactment. He possessed encyclopaedic knowledge in that field, he seemed lively and outdoorsy. It was not the first time John had hired new people that way: a good chat during workhours was the best way to get a first impression, especially if he wanted to hire rangers; there was no such thing as too many rangers. Brent was a tailor at the reenactment association, he hand-sewed historical garments and helped with the organization of events; the tailor job was not hard work, he had been enticed by John's proposal. He would do anything he liked, educate people about the history of the North. Brent had told Lillian about his recruitment while they browsed some documents in a library.

Thinking Brent was going to be seasonal and not really a close colleague (he didn't do law enforcement) Lillian felt relieved.

-But John says it's possible to renew my contract. I still can't make up my mind, I like doing reenactment too much...-

The girl had the idea of pulling a prank, as it was sometimes done with new arrivals:

-You say I'm magnificent, don't you?-

-Betcha. Your beauty is also strength, you exude power, you are- -

-Good. If by the sunset you this lawn is weeded, I'll take you out tonight.-

Taking off his shirt and unveiling a muscular and tanned back on which a large tattoo stood out, Brent had set to work:

-Yes madam!-

Lillian had sat on a fence watching Brent rear-up tearing weeds off the large lawn while the botanist Bronwyn, leaning against the wooden fence next to the ranger girl, looked at the new guy severely, shaking her head:

-But don't you see he doesn't know that in the prairies you don't technically have weeds? And then take him off that lawn, he's trampling alpine flowers, they are delicate...- Lillian thought that with her doe brown eyes, her brown hair and her petite feminine physique Bronwyn was the most beautiful girl in the RNP, but she was boring as hell:

she always talked about the same things, people touching the flowers, her cadence and the tone of her voice were soporific. The girls had stayed there watching Brent work until seven in the evening.

-Come on, poor thing ...-

Bronwyn couldn't stand Lillian, how she enjoyed humiliating others with the excuse of being the best. It was not an excuse! In the RNP there was a kind of tradition, going out with rangers. The zoology guys went out with the rangers, the tourism and HR guys too, _rangers went out with rangers _and Joel was the most attractive of the pack. Tall and dark, long curly hair; although she knew he was a bit of a jerk he was Bronwyn's dream. Obviously he had chosen Lillian...

Bronwyn was better-read, more beautiful, Lillian looked like a man instead; but there they were, wooing her. Bronwyn had secretly enjoyed it when Joel had dumped Lillian. And now even that nice-eyed imposing Viking already seemed to drool over that one. Not that he was her type, but still!

-Yeah, I'm going to tell him it was a prank. If you want, you can go out with him.-

Waving her hair Lillian went to poor Brent who, even more burnt and sweaty, had sat down to rest on a stone.

/

Brent still didn't believe he was a park ranger, he thought they all did jobs like Lillian's :

-No, even if you don't have the guts, and guns, to manage scumbags and stuff you still call yourself "ranger". We don't all do the same things, and stewardship is very important.-

He had to feel lucky: getting into the RNP was difficult, even in a seasonal position. Brent didn't always work with Lillian, but he had been encouraged by John to spend time with her. Had it been up to him, he would not have let go of her for a moment: beyond the fact that he found her very attractive, she also seemed a girl full of verve, she was never short of words and this amused him. For Lillian, on the other hand, Brent was like an annoying little dog: the more she chased him away, the more he returned.

Whenever he set out to help her, she stared at him with her hard black eyes and said:

-Two words: top ranger.-

She was number 1, she didn't need his help nor his advances. Lillian really didn't want to see anyone; Joel had had the nerve to call her the night before, but she had resisted and hadn't gone to him to have sex. She was not his slave: if he thought she would be at his disposal whenever he wanted while completely dismissing her at work, then he could also put out the fire with his own hand.

John could have consigned Brent to Joel, since he too worked in conservation and stewardship; besides, nuisances always went hand in hand.

Instead, there she was: in her jeep, not ready to go with Brent all the way to Saint-Paul, where he lived. It was a town with a cool castle, perched on the other side of the valley, right in front of their eyes. Lillian could already see it.

-Hey Lillian. Do you know why you can't trust atoms?-

-Because they make _you_ up?-

-…because they make up everything!-

Brent laughed at his own dad joke. He always did, he said they made people laugh because they weren't fun. Saint-Paul castle had keepers, and she was a park ranger: why the hell did she have to go there with Brent?

-Anyway...in case you were just an impossible conquest...- 

Lillian scoffed. Brent could even sacrifice a hundred sheep to Odin, she _was _an impossible conquest; the sooner that hipster caught her drift, the more heartache he would spare himself.

-... is your roommate Der Veer seeing anyone? She looks like the kind of girl one would like to have children with; wifey material.-

Lillian turned to look at him as he peered dreamily at the sky through the window. He thought of how easy it was to be duped by Carly. If she looked pretty and cuddly, underneath she was as solid as rock: she ran straight like a train to whatever goal she set herself, she got some balls on her. And she was a good shooter too.

-I mean, do you hear yourself, having her have your children? S_weet little wife, _my ass._-_

-I was kidding! I'm into warriors, like you.-

Could someone worse than Brent happen to her?

-Hey Lillian. The scarecrow won an award…-

Driving, she puffed and played along:

-…why?-

-…it was OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD!-

She saw him grin to himself like a fool, and this time Lillian bit her tongue not to laugh. She always tried not to laugh, so that Brent understood who was in charge. Sure, she could have had worse than Brent: Brent could bother her in a myriad of different ways, but at least he wasn't a threat. As for physical prowess, ability and experience he couldn't hold a candle to her.

Once their business with the castle was done, Lillian remained with Brent on a parapet looking at the valley that meandered in the horizon. It had been more than a month since they had launched the landslide alert for Noiresylve . Nothing had yet happened, but if for geologists and rangers it was only a matter of moments, the villagers were furious: for all those weeks they had had to live elsewhere, scattered, for nothing. _Because no landslide had yet happened. _

Feeling her heart weigh at that thought, Lillian needed to chat:

-Noiresylve...do you know Noiresylve ?-

-Mm, of course. Were you able to get Mrs. Poyaz out ?-

Lillian licked the ice cream cone that Brent had bought her and peered at the V-shaped valley, unable to see Viey on the other side:

-I wasn't...-

It was her responsibility to pull that Poyaz woman out of Noiresylve , yet she was still there. Leaving a resident in a landslide-alert-affected place would not only make her title falter, but Lillian wouldn't have forgiven herself. At that moment Lillian cursed being held in such high esteem: if she were _a Brent_, John wouldn't have entrusted her with such a delicate task. She figured how John was feeling, because she was his apprentice and therefore a part of her merits or of her faults was always, conventionally and bureaucratically, also his. In fact, consequences of an accident would have been heavier for John.

The only option was to lift that old hag and take her away before she was flattened by a piece of mountain. That or a miracle.

A goddamn miracle. 

/

Thoughts of the author:

I was looking forward to writing this chapter, in which we see love blossoming between Eighteen and Krillin ! I decided to tell in more detail and separately what happened in that cave on the cliff: this weekend I'll published a lemon, **That first time, you and I **, it will be

available on my page :) For the rest, we finally have the Weiss family reunited and also Brent's debut, he's a lot of fun to write! I too enjoy his "dad jokes"; with him I vent my still unsatisfied desire for historical re-enactment, I follow a lot of re-enactors on Instagram but unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to do so. I speak of Vikings, I hesitated to bring up a piece of true history in this universe, but then I remembered that there are also Native Americans in DB, so I said to myself "and why not Vikings?"

Landslides are unfortunately an ever present risk in the mountains and in my turf the Alps sometimes it really happens that they crush entire villages :( In the next chapter, "Miracle in Noiresylve ", we will see how poor Lillian will cope with an old stubborn lady! What will the miracle be? 


	17. Miracle in Noiresylve

Eighteen's departure mortified Seventeen.

Kate's warm grip around his shoulders didn't really comfort him, even though the contact with her did good to him.

Mother and son spent long moments like that, he with his head against her shoulder, in silence; it was as if a part of the male twin had come loose,even if he knew he didn't lose it, it still hurt: she was his sister, they had always been together.

Growing up was strange.

He spent time mulling over the collection of photos their mother had taken over the years, especially those of him as a child.

He hadn't had the courage to look at his personal collection: too many emotions in the last two months, he hadn't finished assimilating them yet.

Eighteen said she had found meaning to her life; she hadn't come back after reviving Bruno and Seventeen pictured her happy with Krillin.

He also thought of Sixteen, who had decided to join the police. He had learned that the android had become Captain Weiss' assistant and he laughed picturing him forced into the role of a policeman. He knew, although, that having Sixteen's choice been personal, his friend must be fulfilled.

And he? What would he do now that Eighteen was gone?

He would continue to have fun with cars, divide his existence between his sister's house and Kate's, live with her until she died and then start over and try something else to do.

Going back to being a gangster no longer seemed a viable option.

Kate wanted to help her son at that moment in his life, he looked so dissatisfied, almost bored. It was possible that he was experiencing a simple moment of crisis; between the two, Lapis was certainly the least inclined to overthinking and melancholy.

There was one thing he still had to know and that Kate had hesitated to mention so far. She didn't want to spread him too thin.

-Lapis,...-

-Seventeen.-

-... do you know that I wasn't the only one waiting for you? I didn't mean to rush you before, but I think by now you should tell Carly you're back.-

-Telling who?-

/

_Carly _was his girlfriend. Possibly the love of his life.

Kate had invited him to take a look at his personal photos that had been carefully placed in a box inside his closet.

They portrayed himself in the company of a girl with ginger hair. Her skin was very pale, and she looked happy with him. Although she was conventionally less attractive than women like Eighteen or even Kate, to Seventeen she looked absolutely beautiful. Large eyes, radiant smile, full breasts, he could have fallen in love with her.

But he only nibbled on the hem of his shirt, discouraged, sighing with the photographs still in his hands:

-I don't remember her.-

Kate had not been in contact with her for some time, but she scribbled a name and phone number on a piece of paper:

-When you feel up to it, you can call her father George.-

Kate wanted to hope that seeing Carly would make Lapis happy, but on a practical level she had no idea if she was still available, or of what had become of her.

For his part, Seventeen could only blindly trust Kate's word and wasn't sure he wanted to; not only did he find out once again that what really mattered was a blank in his head but he was always convinced that there was no chance he could have started from scratch with that human girl.

_Zero chance._

And no, Eighteen, the dilemma went far beyond the chance of injuring her with a thrust of the back, in the bedroom; he didn't want to spend his life with someone who belonged with a dramatic past, someone who would never understand him and who would always, more or less consciously, fear him.

Out there, people weren't Kate. Kate understood _because she was his mother_, but what about everyone else?

He preferred never to see Carly again than to go through the joy of being with her again and then undergo a refusal generated by an irreversible incompatibility. He thought of how much he had loved the look in the eyes of Cloe Mafia's men, when their animal instincts had suggested to them that _he wasn't like them_.

But thinking of seeing that same ancestral fear in this Carly's eyes terribly upset him.

It seemed to him there was nothing that could hurt more than seeing his abnormality reflected as terror in the eyes of someone he loved. He would have educated himself to live without her. In time, he would no longer miss her.

-Okay, I'll take care of it,- he lied, taking the piece of paper from Kate's hand.

He doubted his mother didn't see right through him, but he trusted in her respect.

He thought back to what he was capable of: when he had decided to eradicate the Commando Magenta he had destroyed hundreds of lives by simply raising his hand. And he had enjoyed it.

He wasn't his sister, he hadn't said no to destruction, he didn't _need_ to find someone who could help him be _more human_. Someone like him would surely be a shitty boyfriend, no human girl would ever dream of a city-busting, flying _terminator_.

It was a cowardly thing: wasn't the very powerful # 17 running away, now? For once he wanted to choose the easy way, believing it was the best for him.

It would have ended like that, it was better to be safe than sorry. In all that depressing brooding, he realized he wasn't done.

Remembering the Commando had brought him back to when he had stayed at the ruined house and had questioned that terrified henchman.

_"Our main client is a squire in the Yunzabit Heights," _he had said.

The Commando hadn't yet been completely eradicated. Leaving their main client alive was like tearing the stem of a weed and leaving the roots in the soil.

He had to kill that gentleman too.

/

Kate was returning home from the underground station.

She heard the cell phone ring and reluctantly answered Ronan, the podcast producer who still didn't want to throw in the towel with her.

What did he want? That famous invitation to lunch? And Saturday it was, at least he would no longer torment her. She was still walking down the street when she saw Lapis's unmistakable silhouette spurt out the window.

Kate called out loud but he was already too high in the sky. Still anxious, Kate dropped her coat and purse on the sofa and listened with bated breath to the muffled ringing of Lapis's cell phone.

He had left it in his room...

In the kitchen she found a note:

_I'll be back, don't worry. See you soon._

/

The first thing the cyborg did was to go get Sixteen.

The policemen watched Lapis in person with astonishment, as he walked in with his usual indolence, well known to most. They watched him go to the desk of Sixteen, the big guy who was now working with the captain.

-Are they all looking at you because you were a thug as a human?-

Sixteen looked down at his friend, who waited at a safe distance as if he wanted him to accompany him somewhere.

Seventeen laughed to himself:

-I want you to come with me. For a stroll.-

-Are you getting bored? Where's Eighteen?-

-Ah, don't tell me about it.-

She had chosen Krillin. That hound-eyed garden gnome; of course he was bored, but he was also eager to go on an adventure with his best and only friend.

/

-You shall not kill humans…-

Sixteen followed Seventeen in flight to one of the most remote places on Earth.

The Yunzabit Heights were a large island that had once been united with the North City district. The isthmus that united them had then been submerged by the ocean and now those mountains had become almost a country in their own right, separated in every way from the main continent. It was a windswept, sparsely populated tax haven, in other words a perfect place for unsavoury characters to stash dirty money and live away from the hustle and bustle of big cities. Of course, regular people lived there too.

-Maybe, maybe not…-

Seventeen knew that Sixteen had already noticed the glint of the gun in his pocket. Although he hadn't hoped for it, the android was still following him.

In fact, he had followed him only because Botz was at the police dog training camp and therefore he had no one to look after; perhaps he too felt nostalgic.

Soon, the duo saw Yunzabit's sharp rocky spires pierce the clouds, and they knew they had arrived. From the top they could see only a few scattered villages, a large castle dominated the top of what looked to be the only town worthy of the name.

-At least leave anyone else alone …-

Sixteen hoped that Seventeen would not make a bloodbath; it was wrong, he shall not do it.

Cloe Mafia had taught him a lot about the nature of humans but for Sixteen killing creatures so helpless, however evil, seemed unnatural. When the two of them landed in the inner courtyard of that huge mansion that looked like a castle, a handful of men in suits had them at gunpoint:

-You can't enter without Lord Shomu's permission.-

They were all like that. You could not enter the Commando HQ, you could not enter _Lord Shomu_'s place... Sixteen thought humans really cared about the places where they lived.

Seeing that the red-haired giant and the boy with the orange scarf had come closer, the security guards fired. It was a storm of bullets, there were men everywhere and they were firing from various angles in that courtyard.

Exactly as had happened in Central City, Sixteen was once again disappointed: _helpless beings_, yes, who didn't hesitate to attack with the intention of killing.

While not approving, the android could understand the iron fist the cyborg always preferred to use. With a condescending sigh, Seventeen continued to let himself be hit and pointed the gun.

/

In the meantime, the aforementioned Lord Shomu had barricaded himself in his huge bedroom, armed only with a hand grenade and the desire to throw it to the face of anyone wreaking havoc in his inner courtyard. Leaning out of a window he had seen about fifteen of his bodyguards run away like rabbits with their hands up, as two suspicious figures approached with slow and relentless steps towards the great door of his house, unhindered, as if it were a walk of pleasure.

_"Why don't you stop them, you good for nothing?"_

Lord Shomu was outraged.

He would fire those gorillas from first to last, it didn't matter if such a sudden dismissal would put them in trouble.

Due to the nature of the trade that he garrisoned, Lord Shomu had many enemies and the job of security staff was to keep out any type of intruder. And clearly those men hadn't proved worthy to defend him.

-The police are coming up here. You will stay put, understand? They are close to finding you here …-

Old Shomu kicked a boy dozing on his large circular bed, hugging a few pillows.

The young man winced and moaned when Shomu grabbed him by his tied wrists and pushed him violently into a closet.

With the hand grenade in his fist and drops of sweat rolling from his forehead to his chin, Lord Shomu prepared to put an end to that invasion.

But he trembled all the same when the locked door shook and immediately after a big fist attached to a big arm dressed in green penetrated a panel of solid wood and, finding the key in the lock, opened it from the outside.

_"Mummy..."_

The old man paralyzed momentarily when he saw the rest of the body to which that fist belonged: that couldn't be a real person, it was a titan. And he certainly didn't look like a policeman.

The boy by his side had normal human proportions but didn't look less threatening.

He had heard that those thugs of the Commando Magenta were _all dead. _That news had made him furious, his fortune would suffer. He didn't care if those two were actual cops or hired assassins sent by some miraculous Commando survivor. He had already suffered enough damage.

Fiercely, Shomu threw the hand grenade and watched the titan grab it like a golf ball and burn it before it could explode, using a kind of yellow light that had diffused from his palm.

Shomu pulled the boy with the tied hands out of the closet. He drew a knife from his belt and placed the cold blade against his hostage's throat.

He grinned, hiding his fear:

-If you-

The sudden shot didn't touch a hair on the boy's head, but silenced Shomu forever. The squire collapsed on his back with a small hole in his forehead.

Seventeen pointed the gun again, but Sixteen put a hand on his shoulder and dissuaded him with a stern look, shaking his head.

The hostage boy had instinctively shrugged and looked incredulously at the other boy, withdrawing the gun with wide and slow gestures, so that he understood that after all he didn't intend to terminate him.

Everything had happened in general silence.

Now that Lord Shomu was dead, the boy didn't even seem to feel the pain of his bruises and of the ropes. He felt himself again, a huge smile spread across his face and he darted towards the other boy screaming with joy.

-Thanks! Thanks, thanks, I love you!-

He passed his arms around Seventeen's chest and squeezed him, sinking his head into his scarf. He stopped only when he realized that the object of his adoration was giving him a very hard look.

Careful not to break anything Seventeen broke free of that embrace and snapped the ropes.

Sixteen looked at the former hostage as one looks at a curious animal at the zoo:

-What's your name?-

-Seriously? I'm Mr. Yunzabit.-

He was the recently elected most handsome young man on the island!

The duo was still watching him, expecting a decent introduction. The boy straightened his back and ran a hand through his hair:

-Reuben Rose! But you can call me _Rosie_.-

With their gaps in local celebrities, the cyborg and the android exchanged an amused look.

_Rosie _had recently been kidnapped by Lord Shomu, who in addition to sucking money from whoever crossed his path also had particular tastes when it came to choosing someone to warm his bed. Now the boy was bouncing boldly around the room, talking on the phone in a high-pitched voice.

-I was finally able to call my parents! Let's go by the shore, they'll meet me there. Will you accompany me?-

Sixteen and Seventeen followed the boy, crossing the mansion under the astonished eyes of the staff and security guards.

What were they looking at?

They reached a small beach and Rosie began to scan the horizon:

-Shomu was a real tyrant here. I couldn't call for help, he would have killed my parents. If you hadn't come to free me I would have been his toy boy, _eww _... he kidnapped me immediately after my coronation as _Mr. Yunzabit_. Fortunately all he did was beating me... -

Seventeen noticed his bruises. He thought that nobody would have missed Shomu.

-In any case you, husky ginger, are a real stud. How big can you be? What prowess! That jawline and that mohawk, whew!-

_Rosie _looked with admiration at Sixteen, before circling Seventeen:

-But you, my dear, you're a gem: that angel face and those pecs, and you can shoot…-

Seventeen involuntarily stepped back and frowned:

-I could spit in your eye and blind you.-

Rosie clicked his tongue, covering his shy face with his fists:

-Nah, dark angel, I don't like it rough. I'm super vanilla.-

Rosie thought that _dark angel_ and _husky_ _ginger_ were together, and when he asked them to talk about it both of them gave him such a harsh look that Rosie preferred to shut up until he heard the propellers of the family helicopter. Then he waved, jumping as if he wanted to reach the sky.

-Reuben! Honey!-

He saw his mother running towards him as soon as the helicopter touched the beach.

His brother, sister and father followed and soon the whole Rose family was hugging with relief.

-But what happened? Did you run away?-

Mr. Rose had feared the worst from the moment he had received the ransom note. He hadn't even dared to call the police, as he had been ordered, but he was tormenting himself every day for not being able to overcome the fear of calling for help for his eldest son.

-No, two hot cops came to get me, thank you for sending them! Guys,...-

When Rosie turned around to look at his saviours, he was surprised not to see any trace of them.

/

Carly was awakened by Lillian shaking her, asking her insistently if she was okay. Startled, she opened her eyes and found Lillian sitting on her bed. She was already wearing her blue parka, she had already done her eyeliner and her pretty bun. Carly found herself all sweaty:

-What's going on, Lillian?-

-I have to go up to Chantey. Are you feeling well?-

Not that well. She had just abruptly woken from a dream she didn't remember.

Lillian had worried about Carly tossing and turning in bed over and over, all night; then while she was in the bathroom getting ready to join John at the hut by six o'clock, she had heard Carly make small screams and moans.

For a moment she had doubted that there was a man with her, given the particular timbre of her voice as she murmured things like "_Keep going! Yes, like that!"_

For a moment she hoped it wasn't Brent.

However, it seemed unlikely, it wasn't the first time Carly had done that.

-Nobody was here with you, weren't they?-

As sleepy as Carly was, she turned purple upon realizing that she had done it again.

The same dream: she saw herself in a hall, when she turned around she met Lapis's face and arms. He lifted and held her before laying her on the floor, while she was already waiting for him with her legs spread.

_"Let go, my foot."_

-Both you and I must have a good fuck, sooner or later, I'll find you someone: do you like Joel, by any chance? Pure-blooded jerk, I guarantee. Or maybe you prefer Brent? Brent says you're cute.-

Once again Lillian managed to make her laugh.

-No, thank you. You know I don't shag rangers.-

Carly was always so obstinate in believing that they were all nasty.

-...let's see who has the last laugh! Time for me to leave, they're waiting for me. See you.-

/

Lillian had no intention of going up to Chantey on foot, it was the most inconveniently placed watch point in the RNP but at least one could reach it via a nice wide dirt road.

She ended up not having to go, John told her to try once again to pick up Mrs. Poyaz. He and Brent would remain to watch the village for any landslides.

Noiresylve looked like a ghost village: walking through the streets Lillian only heard wind, birds and lapping of fountains-sink.

Arriving before the only house that was still occupied, Lillian mentally prepared herself for what she had to do. She used some breathing technique to calm her nerves and then watched her index finger meet the white doorbell button.

She rang a few times, but no one answered. Taking the hint, Lillian hit the carved solid wood:

-Clémence Poyaz, you must leave your home. Open the door immediately.-

Same motionless silence.

Everything looked perfect, it was a beautiful October day. What could have happened under such a splendid sky?

-Clémence Poyaz, last warning.-

_Bang bang bang._

Lillian had hurt her knuckles. She didn't even think about taking down the door like they do it in the movies, she would have dislocated her shoulder. Just when she was about to lose her temper the door opened a tiny crack, letting out a light scent of dried herbs.

-You guys are still around! Shoo shoo shoo, shoo.-

The crack had soon turned into a wide-opened door and Mrs. Poyaz revealed to the young ranger her moon face: it looked like it had been trodden by force on a wide, square body dressed in a blue apron.

-Clémence, honour your name. Don't make me eat my heart out in an attempt to save your life.-

Lillian no longer knew what to say to that thick head. If not even the thought of dying could shake her, a common mortal like her had very little hope.

-Stop bothering me! Dull as doorknobs, you folks...I said I won't leave my home. I'm too old to be frightened by a stupid landslide.-

_Assuming that there actually _is_ a landslide and that you people are not making up plots to evict us and sell the land._

This Lillian read on the old lady's face, although she dared not say the words.

-Yes, I understand that you don't care. But if you allow me I do, because if you die I'm in trouble!-

Mrs. Poyaz scratched her sweet granny hairdo and put a hand on Lillian's arm:

-Come on, big girl, I'll make you a cup of tea. You look so embittered.-

Not knowing what to feel most offended by and now running out of options, Lillian grabbed that short, chubby woman taking advantage of her distraction. She started running away from the house towards her car, a distance that seemed longer because of Mrs. Poyaz twisting her arms and kicking with her little legs while lifted off the ground.

-Put me down, ah! Is this how you'd treat your mother, your grandmother?-

Lillian had already run a hundred yards, carrying eighty kilos worth of Mrs. Poyaz; suddenly tired, the girl put the old lady on the ground without letting go of her hand:

-To hell with kindness. Excuse me, _Clem _, but you're a HUGE SHITHEAD. You put yourself and all of us in danger, you don't listen to anyone.-

Perfect: she had insulted her and forcibly removed her from her home. Lillian would have a lot to explain to John ...

-I'll report you, you little bitch!-

-Go to hell, you understand? Go to hell! Come down to the valley with me now.-

The old woman continued to rant, tugging her arm from the unshakable grip of that exceptionally strong girl:

-I will…-

Lillian had heard it too. That slight tremor in her legs. That dark, deep _crack _that seemed to come out of the Earth itself. When Mrs. Poyaz suddenly stopped talking, they both turned in time to see a huge boulder, larger than a van, crashing into a large chalet in a curving path. The old woman looked at her gutted house without batting an eyelid; Lillian grimaced.

-I'm sorry, Clem…-

The rock had been catapulted directly from the mountain: a gigantic cloud of dust was released from one side of the valley while other boulders of that size hailed on Noiresylve.

Both women knew those were only the small ones, preparing the fall of a bigger chunk of mountain. Much bigger.

-Aaaaaahhh the landslide! Holy Kami, Great Priest and all the angels, run!-

Lillian couldn't understand the crazy hag's jibber jabber, but once again she found herself running desperately and carrying her:

-We will die! We will die, ranger!-

_"Lillian ..."_

Lillian struggled to run with the old witch clinging to her, tight as a ball. Hoping for something she couldn't name, Lillian crouched behind a stone wall, letting Mrs. Poyaz hug her.

She closed her eyes and covered her head:

_"And so my time has come. A landslide in the mountains. The place I love most in the end betrays me, not that it's something new with the things or people I love. If I have to die at least I'll go as an MVP. Will anyone miss me? Too bad, I had just redone my henna and it was as red as I like it...Joel, fuck you! You had it crooked, you could never touch my G-spot. Fuck you too Bronwyn, I know that you talk ill behind my back with your little girlfriends. Goodbye John, thanks for being a good teacher. Brent, learn to be a proper ranger but keep on being a Viking. Carly __get__ your man back, have many children and fly many birds of prey. I loved you three, you are my family...oh my, even Brent ?! Goodbye. Top Ranger out. "_

The two women waited for death all snug in a kind of embrace, with their eyes closed.

Only when a low rumble moved the earth under their rear did they both realize they were alive.

-Ranger, look! Look, the landslide…-

Clémence was the first to look around, obsessively poking the girl:

-Ranger. Ranger?!-

Lillian was still squinting at the sunshine but realizing that she was whole, she jumped up.

-LILLIAN! Heck! My name is Lillian.-

She had five missed calls between John and Brent. Having just faced death, Lillian hadn't even heard the cell phone ring. While following Mrs. Poyaz towards the spot just outside Noiresylve where a piece of mountain as big as a building lay quiet, she replied to her excited colleague:

"What is it, Brent?"

_"She replied...she replied! Yoo hoo! John, the Valkyrie is alive! I'm so relieved …"_

She could have told him she was answering straight from Valhalla, but at that moment Lillian didn't have the nerve to joke. She looked up to the peaks, making more or less out the shape of Chantey but unable to see Brent, who certainly could see her.

_"_What is it?_ You are alive!"_

"Let me talk to John."

_"John is...in a meeting. Oh, I have to go. Holy cow Lil, you don't know what I just saw. What you missed out on."_

"... Life, almost? Anyway tell John, when he's over with his meeting, that I'm taking Mrs. Poyaz to the hospital for tests, down in Neuve Ville. Don't worry, I'll join you tonight in Saint-Paul."

Lillian was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, Mrs. Poyaz was safe and both were leaving the devastated village on their own legs, unharmed.

_"In a meeting, up at Chantey? Come on..."_

If Lillian had immediately understood that Brent had lied to her, she still didn't know how that huge landslide had avoided Noiresylve.

It was crazy.

It was a miracle.

/

Lillian couldn't make it to the end of the day without being summoned by John to his office in Saint-Paul. They must have just returned from Chantey, and she had just had time to leave Clémence Poyaz to her family.

John said he had to talk to her, it was the first time in her career that Lillian felt worried: that Mrs. Poyaz matter was quite delicate, in all probability John was not satisfied.

What if he took the title of top ranger from her?

The girl took a deep breath and then opened the door to her boss's office.

She found him jokingly arguing with Brent. His secretary was stapling documents, leaving them on the desk where a very young man sat, intent on quickly leafing through a book.

What was it, his parents had forgotten him there?

Lillian saw that it was _the bible _, the textbook John gave to all rangers.

So a new colleague? Or since he looked younger than her, maybe a mascot...

-John, I'm sorry if I haven't handled Mrs. Poyaz well.-

-No, Lillian you're not here for that, you handled the lady very well. Good girl.-

-I really don't understand, the mountain has come down for real. What happened?-

Brent raised his chin in the direction of the reading boy:

-_He _happened.-

/

-And that's it: from today you will have two new disciples, Lillian. I bring you up and you bring them up: be my eyes and ears when I'm not around, will you? Now I leave you youngsters to introductions. Goodbye!-

When John was gone, the boy stood up and paced back and forth through the office. Lillian felt annoyed that he was ignoring her, but smiled:

-Um ... hello?-

-Hey.-

-Did you hear what the old man said? When he's not around you take orders from me.-

The newbie began to leaf through another document, still without looking at Lillian; he absent-mindedly moved a piece of hair that fell straight between his eyes.

-Oi! Are you listening?-

Annoyed, she snapped her fingers.

-... I'd hear you even if you were on top of the glacier. You breathe like an old locomotive.-

Lillian was flabbergasted. She gave a killer look to Brent, who in the meantime was laughing and leaning on the desk:

-I'm digging your style, Sev! You look like a gangsta cowboy. I can call you _Sev_, can't I? Call me _B _if my name is too long.-

Could Lillian call them both _problem _or _why me?_

She shook her head to Brent desperately trying to make conversation with the mascot:

-I'm a Viking instead. Not a real Viking, those are all dead, but a Viking-era reenactor. How cool your earrings are! I have a little diamond here, and the tragus piercing there.-

-The dragus?-

-With a T. _Tragus_.-

-Ow, stop it fanboy.-

Lillian glanced sideways at Brent, before eyeing the other one through narrow eyelids:

-In any case it's rude not to look people in the face when they're talking to you.-

_Sev _didn't even look up:

-I'm reading. It's rude to interrupt.-

Oh bollocks: he was just leafing through the bible and documents, even quickly. One couldn't read like that. Lillian crossed her arms:

-What does the bonfire section say?-

\- _"Anyone who lights unauthorized fires is punishable by fines of up to ... " -_

Lillian knew perfectly well how much was the fine. But she was surprised to hear him repeat the words of the bible as if he had already memorized them.

Brent watched Lillian's wrath build up slowly, like a pressure cooker warming up, and he got comfortable on a chair: were these two going to be his closest colleagues? He would've had a laugh every day.

-Okay, I'm done. Ta-ta.-

When the brat got up and walked to the exit, Lillian could see something of his face for the first time.

She noticed two mini Great Eden looking back curiously at her fresh hennaed hair. Lillian wanted to make it a point not to look in his eyes: they were a focal point that surely everyone was drawn to, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction. She shifted her attention to the sprinkle of freckles on his cheekbones, remembering that she liked that on dark-haired people. His cheeks were red, already burnt by the high mountain sun.

Having finished studying the last document on the pile, the brat placed it in Lillian's hands and took his leave. Brent hummed, spinning in his chair like a child:

-Lil, Lil, please...John put Sev to law enforcement. Honestly, I think he'll make things easier for you.-

Who cared what Brent thought. What a good start!

She had complained about the hipster, while the other one seemed even worse. Moreover, she would have had to spend more time with him than she did with Brent. Really excellent, she could already foresee many quarrels.

She almost hated John. But Lillian was Lillian, she was _the best_ and also his superior: if that little gypsy of her boots had looked for trouble, she would have given it to him.

/

Thoughts of the authors:

Carly _doesn't shag rangers_. Ah...


	18. The third Musketeer

_Just before the landslide in Noiresylve_

They were _that _close to those people seeing their faces. That Rosie guy's family had arrived quickly enough to create some general distraction and allow Sixteen and Seventeen to sneak away. Now, sitting on the highest tower of the late Lord Shomu's palace, they watched the propellers of the Rose rotorcraft carry the family home.

-I'm proud of you-, Sixteen admitted, winking at his friend and looking at the lands of the main continent on the horizon.

-I didn't kill anyone just to not traumatize you,- Seventeen replied with mock modesty, moving his hair all high and mighty. He had actually killed someone: that petulant lord, but it was necessary.

-I guess you have to go back to your duties now…-

-Central City is waiting for me.-

_"I know, my friend. I'm the one who's proud of you. _"

Seventeen wondered at that moment how it was possible that Sixteen wasn't like him, only half a machine, because the expression he saw on his face looked completely human. Sixteen was the one who could touch the best part of his cyborg nature. At that moment Seventeen truly felt the weight of the last existential speech they had had, and decided that if someone like Sixteen (who according to the plans of his creator wasn't even supposed to live) had found his place in the world, he _couldn't _fail.

It would have been like throwing away something precious, his life. When Cell had taken him Seventeen had believed he had stopped existing, that his life was over.

Instead, he had been lucky enough to survive and now he had to honour the terrible privilege that life was. Eighteen had decided to take it in her hands and make good use of it. He was no different, he just had to find his opportunity. Now he _wanted _tofind it. 

-Well, take care. We'll meet again, I hope.-

The android gave the cyborg an affectionate pat on the back, and the cyborg watched him take off and head south.

Seventeen stayed in the North; he had never seen North City, but he knew his life as a cyborg had started in those mountains. Retracing the first steps of his new existence had a strange effect on him.

After a few hours spent wandering on foot, he found himself near a familiar-looking silvery stream. The sides of the road descended steeply to the water belt and the U-shaped valley left exposed to his enhanced eyes a green horizon and a village curled up in a depression on the side of a mountain. He felt content to remember he had already been there, the night when he and Eighteen had made the blood pact for the second time.

_"Maybe I can steal another pie."_

Seventeen wanted to walk a little more instead of flying; he remembered that once again he had ditched his mother, but when he started to rush he was glad not to have her in tow: she couldn't have sustained his rhythm.

He had walked for about an hour, deeper and deeper into a lush forest. He thought again of Sixteen, so peaceful and respectful of living things. He tried to imagine his thoughts in such a peaceful place.

Sixteen would have said, _"Hush, listen! The world is alive." _

The cyborg closed his eyes and listened to the quiet sounds of the life around him. He heard the distant scream of an eagle gliding hundreds of metres above the ground. He jumped and reached it without even flying: for a moment Seventeen observed closely the brown plumage of the bird of prey, ruffled by the wind, the strong feathers parted like fingers on its wings. Perhaps the eagle was wondering what a human was doing there, especially how it couldn't have seen and heard him coming; if an eagle cannot have a puzzled face, well, that was exactly what it looked like to the cyborg. He took the time to notice that the eagle was branded, he read "Chicken" on its foot. Maybe that was its name, _Chicken _.

He chuckled, wondering which idiot would call an eagle CHICKEN.

Then the animal got scared and sketched away; Seventeen sighed in disappointment, there was no need to flee like that. He remained in midair, the wind moving his scarf like a banner. The air up there was cleaner than closer to the ground, he enjoyed it. He thought of everything and nothing, listening to the sound of the wind and of his own breathing. He was there, in a state of complete quietude, when suddenly he heard a faint and distant _crack_. And another. It sounded like rock crumbling. Now it was no longer faint, the mountain groaned with high-pitched and guttural sounds that were a hellish din for Seventeen's super eardrums. His eyes flickered around in search of the landslide, somewhere in the valley.

Then he did a relatively new thing: he ran the scanning programme and everything turned red, as if he were looking through a tinted glass. It bothered him to use it, he'd done it just once, back then when he had wanted to get some intel on the sealed Sixteen and Gero's head was still on his shoulders. He literally saw a piece of rock vibrate, emitting soundwaves as it left the mountain.

_"There it is."_

Flying at high speed, Seventeen saw the same village he had spotted in the distance and from which he had stolen the pie, straight on the path of the landslide.

Approaching in flight he emitted energy blasts that reduced the boulders and debris to sand, even if some stones escaped him. When the biggest piece finally decided to fall, a chunk of mountain the size of a building, Seventeen placed it at the bottom of the valley, where it wouldn't crush anyone. He had just saved a village from Mother Nature's wrath, he scratched his head and wondered why: nobody had asked him, was he a superhero now?

Meanwhile, from a strategic point in the valley, two men watched the scene with binoculars.

Brent and John had gone up to Chantey and the new ranger had felt waves of panic crumble his legs, bone by bone. Lillian was down there...

-Holy moly, John. Check this out, hurry up! What the heck did I just see?-

John felt guilty for sending Lillian to get that old witch. If he had gone, perhaps he would have avoided the death of a girl of twenty-two, her whole life still ahead of her. He was old instead. He didn't care what Brent wanted him to watch, until he heard him yell again:

-Holy shit! Look at that guy.-

John rose from the grass outside the hut, took the binoculars from Brent's hands and stood with his mouth agape:

-What the hell?! Did he just stop a friggin' landslide? And now what is he doing, climbin' up the mountain like a goat?-

Brent took back his binoculars and scratched his beard:

-Ah, I don't know. Maybe we should go and meet him.-

If that guy had just blocked the mountain, then Noiresylve hadn't been completely destroyed. Maybe Lillian was alive! As John and Brent prepared the jeep and the latter was about to call the top ranger, they saw a boy reach the hut in two jumps.

For his part Seventeen felt quite unnerved to see, as he thought, that there were people there. They were staring at him.

-Hey-, John got out of the car. -What did you do? We saw you carry a piece of mountain and shoot colorful things at the landslide.-

The chief looked at the silent young man in the orange bandana who was barely listening, astonished by the view.

-What are you doing here? Except ... what you've done.-

Seventeen felt skeptical and didn't know how to handle those unwanted witnesses, but that was a magnificent place and being there had lifted up his mood, so he showed himself friendly: he had lost his way to North City.

-You went twenty km north. North City is just outside the park, behind that ridge .-

John pointed to the south direction, barely listening to Brent screaming on the phone.

-What's your name?-

-Seventeen.-

-No, listen: who are you?-

-Are you deaf?-

-Okay, do you have an address? Where are you from?-

The cyborg remained silent: _"I came flying from the Yunzabit Heights, where I just did a kill" _sounded too personal.

-Excuse us for a moment.-

John walked away with one hand raised. Seventeen approached the car he saw parked nearby. He remained to admire that beautiful off-road vehicle, it had such a fine lived-in look. How fun would it be to drive it on mountain roads? By inadvertently hearing the two men's whispers, Seventeen learned that he was in a place called _Royal Nature Park_. He also absently listened to an almost imperceptible hiss:

-Hey! Your jeep has a flat tyre.-

John and Brent stopped talking to each other, checked the tyres and disagreed.

-Right, you can't hear, can you?-

The two men looked perplexedly at the boy and continued to discuss in a low voice, then the older one came forward:

-Okay, Seventeen. What you did was…crazy and I'll skip all the _when _, _how _and _where _, because I don't know what to say. I'll go straight to the _what_. My name is John and I'm the chief of the RNP rangers. You…-

-...I can come with you, if I wish, since you are interested in hiring me after my nice number with the landslide; you'd be glad to have me work with you, but in the end it's up to me, so I should think about it. I've heard it all. And now replace that tyre, damn it. Or at least let me do it.-

John stared at him, dumbfounded:

-...all right. Change it.-

John's astonished gaze didn't lose Seventeen out of sight while he grabbed the jeep by the bumper and pulled it in a vertical position, easily removed one of the front tyres and replaced it with the spare. It didn't take him more than a minute. It irked Seventeen how those two could go around with a flat tyre, didn't they bother thinking that the car's performance would be poor, that the whole wheel could get ruined? When he finished he handed the punctured tyre to Brent, with a shrewd smile. The two finally saw the rubber was pierced and continued to stare at the boy.

-You're welcome,- Seventeen sighed boredly and sat on the grass -What exactly should I decide on? What are you offering me?-

-Um...Thanks,- John sat down beside him.

-John, Lillian said she went down to Neuve Ville with the Poyaz woman …-

Brent tried to fit into John's conversation, with little success.

-Brent has been here for some time now, so listen to me: I'm offering you to become a park ranger, like the two of us. I'll be honest with you, it's an uncomfortable job. The recognition you will get will be close to nothing because people appreciate the park, but ignore all the hard work behind it; however you will always be respectful of the people who live here and of the tourists, you must be ready to help even for nonsense. You will be out in all weathers, sometimes you will see the death of people and more often animals. You will do a lot of overtime without making more money. You'll happen to be cold, hungry, thirsty, not to feel well while on patrol and you won't be able to do anything about it. But the State will give you a decent salary, you can have a house inside the park, if you pass a behavioural test also a rifle. You will always be professional and you will honour the life around you. You will, like the rest of us, be the warden of this legacy: you will help protect it and preserve it for us and the generations to come. For what it's worth, forty years I'm a ranger and for me it's the best job in the world. I wouldn't have it any other way. We have our freedom here. And all of this.-

John indicated with a wide gesture the panorama, so beautiful that it always moved him:

-All of this, every day, without limits. It never tires you. The details of what you will do, when you will start and where you will stay will be in your contract. Think about it, you don't need to give me an answer now.-

Seventeen had listened carefully to every word. He thought again of the direction he wanted to give to his life. If he accepted John's offer, not only would he make Sixteen proud, but he would first of all deny the purpose for which he had been converted into a cyborg. He would have lived free, with the ability to use his superhuman body to do good. Wasn't that one more step towards peace and normalcy?

He imagined himself living there, at peace with himself in that lush forest. His power would come in handy to protect something wonderful: the more his lifestyle choices moved him away from his programming, the happier he felt.

In addition he was an adult now, he was twenty-one.. Now that all (or almost) all the pieces of his memory had recomposed, finding a job was so magnificently normal that it would allow him to embark on a new chapter. To find a place in the world.

-You can have it even now; my answer is yes.-

John slapped his fist on the boy's shoulder: -Excellent! Now we need to take you to my office down in Saint-Paul. For me you are already one of us, but you know, paperwork ... these days you will meet Leni of human resources, she will make you a contract and then you will be officially a park ranger. -

Brent and John involuntarily obeyed when the boy gave them an icy look and informed them that he would drive the jeep to Saint-Paul.

_"Carly, my darling, I'm so glad you're okay! I heard about the landslide and I got anxious. "_

"Don't worry, dad, it happened in a completely different sector. And in any case I didn't even understand what happened, nobody knows. "

"_Neither do I, on TV say that a piece of rock has come off but has not fallen. Who knows! "_

Lillian hadn't returned to Viey yet, Carly hoped she wasn't hurt! She had contacted John, who had given her the full explanation.

Still troubled by yet another erotic dream from which Lillian had shaken her, the vet had spent her day in her beloved Pessy plain to kill time, waiting for the eaglets to be born. Now she had to go back to the clinic and was dying to see the eggs she had kept an eye on during all that time, with a lot of love. It would have been one of the last jobs of the season, in three weeks Carly had to return to North City, where she would have stayed for a few months: a lot of theory and exams were lurking behind the walls of the campus. Carly would have resumed her job at the clinic only later, perhaps the following year.

She was so worried about the little birds: the eggs were found in a nest that some ornithologists were watching. They had declared it abandoned by the mother eagle for too long; a sad conclusion was reached, given that those birds had no predators and that everyone was sure that the mother had not died of natural causes. The day they brought the eggs to her at the clinic and told her that the poachers probably had caught her, Carly's eyes had filled with tears.

_"Shitty hunters"_she had hissed that evening, at home, still red with tears.

"_Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Those are _poachers, _not hunters. My father was a hunter and never killed mothers and little ones. " _Lillian had reassured her, hugging her.

Carly was thankful that there was a signal on the path that linked Viey to the plain, Leni was keeping her company on the phone as she climbed down. By now she was trained enough to do that hike in two hours. People were chatting a lot about the landslide that had occurred early in the morning: Brent had even told her that they had hired a guy who had _stopped _the landslide:

"Do you realise, Leni? This says a colleague of Lillian. I think he smokes heavily …"

Her friend's voice came through a little jammed:

_"I heard too! I'm going to Saint-Paul right now, since we have some young blood. "_

Carly laughed silently, as always amused by Leni's language choices when she spoke of the park rangers. Many of them were in Saint-Paul and often Leni _accidentally _passed by there. 

_"Do you want to join me? I will stay with John until evening to print some new contracts and to attend the briefing of the new recruits. Sometimes there are hot ones, yeah." _

"No thanks, I'll be tired. We'll see you tomorrow."

Two days passed before Carly and Leni met again. The eagle eggs had hatched by then and when Leni came to see Carly at the clinic, she found her leaning against the incubator and watching over the chicks like a caring mother.

-You have to see these babies, what energy and what appetite!- Carly had sacrificed herself to feed them and care for them. They kept her busy and she was happy, they were a sweet distraction.

Leni smiled at the sight of the three eaglets all huddled between straw and twigs.

-You don't even ask me if there was anyone hot?-

Carly forced a smile: -So how did it go? Young blood?-

-My God-, Leni began to fan herself with a booklet. -The one with the Viking beard, what a hunk: long but well-groomed beard, very tall, tan, kind eyes. Can you hear me? I sound like a fifteen year-old with crazy hormones-

-Yes, his name is Brent-, Carly smiled at her friend's astonished expression. -it's him I was talking about the other day, he works with Lillian every now and then. She says he's a ball and chain.-

-Tsk, everyone is a stick in the mud to Lillian. There was also another one, that landslide boy. He must be about twenty, so I raise my hands.-

-Ah! Who is that?-

-I didn't pick up his name, but from what John told me he's sure to be the top ranger in not so long. He wanted me to immediately give him a permanent contract.-

"_Oh…"_

Carly couldn't help but think of her friend: if now in the RNP there was someone who could compete with Lillian, then she hoped the two of them didn't meet. It wasn't impossible, but Lillian hadn't told her about him yet.

-My sixth sense tells me that I will end up in bed with that Viking. You go with the young one, he's got some ice-blue peepers, well...what can a girl do…-

-No Leni, I don't care.-

Carly sighed and began tidying up an already neat work surface. She grew sad and bitter once again, not in the mood to go out with someone anytime soon. And a ranger, no less.

-He also has a cute smile, at least I think it's cute. I'd say he's your type.-

Leni had had no intention of saying anything wrong, she had simply remembered a conversation she had had with Carly over the summer. She realised she had crossed the line when Carly, eyes furious as she had never seen, yelled at her the whole truth about her suffering:

-Stop it, please stop it! Leave me be. I'm tired of telling everyone that I want to be alone, I'm tired of having to justify myself for the worst thing that has happened to me and that I haven't decided. You wanna know why, Leni? I live in perpetual mourning. I loved someone with pale blue eyes and a lovely smile, I lost him and I was supposed to be his wife,...-

Leni felt her heart sink as Carly searched her sobs for words that weren't needed. Many times Leni had imagined that Carly had suffered a bad break-up, but she hadn't certainly fathomed that things had gone so bad; Leni had never really wanted, or dared, to talk to her about it. She felt guilty for all the times when her insensitive behaviour must have made Carly suffer. Poor Carly! So kind, so young, so smart; the clearness of her face that masked all the injustice that weighed on her shoulders.

She could not reply when Carly, shaking with anger and stress, showed her to the door of the clinic.

/

Lillian was right, her "troubles" had just begun. A week had passed since the landslide and not only was this brazen brat a permanent collaborator of hers, but he had also forced her to drive the jeep whenever she went with him. That was INSANE, when did anyone ever _force _Lillian? 

-Hey Lillian, what do sprinters eat before racing?-

From the mirror she watched Brent crookedly return her an amused look, from his back seat. Every now and then she would take her wide eyes off the road and stare at Seventeen's profile, concentrated behind the wheel, and his straight hair ruffled by the wind that came in through his window.

-Nothing. They FAST.-

Seventeen laughed to himself. Lillian did not have the nerve to reply to the Viking's puns; she was too busy holding the handle above the window while Seventeen pushed the car down the winding road at an unsafe, no, FORBIDDEN speed.

-Do you want to kill us all, you nut? Slow down ... Curve ahead! Oh my God!-

Now she was motion sick...

-You should thank me for coming to Viey instead of waiting for you directly in Saint-Nicholas."

-It's _my _car!-

Brent watched them as a child watches parents argue:

-Hey Sev. How do you call a factory that makes acceptable products?-

Seventeen raised two amused eyes on Brent's reflection in the mirror:

-It's..._a satisfactory_?-

-Betcha it is, mate!-

Brent was happy that the new guy he admired so much reacted to his lines.

John had told Brent to go to that historical site outside the town of Saint-Nicholas, a stone-slab ancient monument still under restoration; he had to write the text of the instructive panel for visitors, which was to be put before the stones.

The chief ranger insisted that Lillian and Seventeen follow him, since all three were a new group that needed to learn to be cohesive:

_"Now that I also have the third musketeer, I have to keep you all together."_

_"I'm D'Artagnan!" _Seventeen had taken the en garde position, drawing an imaginary sword.

_"No, _she _is D'Artagnan, because she has to put up with you two."_John had winked at Lillian. 

All kidding aside, Lillian had to evaluate the safety of that old historic site before the RNP reopened it to the public; Seventeen would have given her a hand.

When they arrived at the site, Brent spouted an avalanche of hypotheses on how those stones of considerable size had been placed in groups of three, two vertical and one horizontal, and then in a circle:

-... we are talking about prehistoric times: each of those basalt slabs must weigh at least five tons and whoever built the monument certainly didn't have a crane ... maybe they had a Sev!-

Brent would never forget what he had seen him do, up in Noiresylve. Just like John, the Viking didn't seek a justification, but in his eyes that boy was a kind of superhero.

-Who did this?- Seventeen looked up at a huge horizontal stone.

-We don't know. Normal humans, like us.-

Lillian's day improved considerably when she saw Bronwyn's graceful silhouette approaching them from a distance, trudging under the weight of her backpack.

-What are you doing here, woodland nymph?-

She pointed to a giant blackberry bush just behind the monument. Its thorns were so robust and long they looked like sharp daggers.

-I must see if there are any animals living there. You guys must burn it, six by four metres of brambles are dangerous for tourists and invasive for the undergrowth. Oh, hey!- the botanist smiled at Brent and Seventeen, then stood aside to do her job.

As Brent took notes on his phone memo Lillian explained to Seventeen, articulating word by word as if he were an idiot, that it was necessary to have a piece of the path around there fixed.

When everyone was hungry, Lillian hoped Bronwyn would leave; sharing a meal with that ditz was all she needed.

-Ladies and gentleman, here's our lunch!-

With great joy, the Viking threw packets to his colleagues:

-Thank goodness I had some extras prepared, so Bronwyn can eat with us.-

Lillian exulted inwardly when she saw her happily grab the stuffed loaf wrapped in tinfoil that the ranger had given her. Brent might have been annoying, but he had such a big heart; he had insisted on stopping in a shop and buying lunch for everyone.

-Lucien sells the best lard, remember that! Never go to Sant-Paul for a packed lunch, there are only overpriced tourist markets there.-

Bronwyn seemed more talkative and flirtatious than usual, she had spent the whole lunch break laughing with the boys with an uninhibited but also graceful attitude.

_"What a tease..."_ Lillian had had enough, she walked away and prepared to work out a little, lifting a large stone from the ground. Luckily Bronwyn was gone now.

-Using a _lifting stone_is great training.-

Brent had surprised her with the stone crushing her breasts.

She got scared and dropped it, -Let me guess, the Vikings did it?-

-Maybe!-

Once again exposing his muscular and tattooed back, Brent set about lifting another stone himself. He dropped it shortly after, all flushed red and panting.

-Not bad…-

Trying to ignore the fact that Brent was a huge show-off and avoiding dwelling on his jacked physique, Lillian sat down next to him and gave him some advice on how to lift weights.

-What are you doing?-

Seventeen had joined them without them noticing his arrival.

-We lift stones to train. Do it too Sev, come on! Lill, you have to see it ... -

-No, I'm not strong enough-, he lied through his teeth.

And then he wasn't a freak show, he had already exposed himself enough with that landslide matter. He sat quietly on a log, fiddling with his water gourd.

Brent looked at him as if he had said the dumbest thing ever, while Lillian raised her eyebrows with satisfaction:

-Don't be surprised, Brent. In the end, not everyone can do it.-

The cyborg's irritated gaze met the human's black eyes, shining with victory.

The rangers barely saw him moving when he got to his feet, he had moved so fast; they were speechless when Seventeen grabbed both Lillian's and Brent's stones and with no apparent effort stretched out his arms, like a cheerleader shaking pom-poms. The youngest RNP ranger flexed his arms and threw the two stones away:

-Happy now?-

-I told you he's very strong. Much more than you,- Brent whispered to Lillian.

-Anyway, what's the point of lifting weights if you can't even fight?-

-Oh, so now you're now also a fight expert,- Lillian regained her condescending tone and raised her chin.

-Actually I'm not: Piccolo looked like an expert, I'm just saying you don't have enough might.-

Lillian didn't even want to know what nonsense he was spouting. She wondered if that bigmouth would have kept on babbling about her lack of might, if she had made him taste her fists.

-Guys...maybe it's better to go. It's three o'clock and the sun is going down. Just fight another time.-

Brent was always worried, it seemed that it was inevitable that sooner or later Lillian and Sev would end up brawling.

And it had happened that time when he and Sev were sitting quietly sucking caramels. Brent was telling the boy about so many beginner reenactors making the mistake of sewing their clothes with nylon instead of woolen thread, when he saw Lillian looming over Sev with clenched fists and ember eyes.

Why was that girl always trying to pick a fight with him?

Seventeen licked his fingers and stood up, -Come on, get that out, hit me wherever you want. I'd rather not in the nuts, though.-

The boy smiled mockingly at Lillian and rested his hands on his hips, solemnly promising that he would not return the blow. Brent thought he was crazy: Lillian was a force of nature, even himself (taller and stockier than Seventeen) would have been wary of getting hit by her;

Lillian still hesitated: for how badly she wanted to reconstruct her new colleague's scornful smile, she only hit him hard in the stomach. That way, she wouldn't do him any harm, tiand she could get the satisfaction.

_-_Ooooow Lillian…- Brent grit his teeth and grimaced.

Seventeen hadn't felt a thing and hadn't batted an eye. He pretended, patting his torso, -Oh no. I'm gonna chuck up, all over you.-

Lillian had even hurt her wrist, her shocked expression made the cyborg laugh wildly. If only she had seen her own face!

-You goddamn...did you put on a vest?-

It seemed to her that he was made of steel. She kept looking at him with a mixture of anger and amazement.

-No, look.-

Seventeen had briefly lifted his shirt, letting her glimpse his sleek, six-packed and perfectly uninjured abdomen. She hadn't even left a red mark.

-Okay, calm down! Don't get naked now.-

Lillian turned away angrily, trying not to peep too much at his bod. Her reaction amazed her, because seeing the Fenrir wolf on Brent's big back didn't bother her. Not anymore, at least.

Without warning, Seventeen put his hand on the wooden fence next to him and Lillian; she drew back and felt frightened, when a storm of rain of splinters and dust dispersed in the wind. Brent whistled and applauded, she didn't understand if the brat was amused or annoyed.

-That's how you use your fists.-

Seventeen returned quietly to fill up on candy and chat with Brent, leaving Lillian alone near that stretch of solid wood fence, now completely broken.

/

Although Lillian was more and more irritated, the time she felt real envy was yet to come; it was one morning when she was with Brent and Seventeen, doing a census. She was copying data to a computer, Seventeen peering at the forest line with concentrated air.

-Shut up a minute.-

_"YOU shut up and go get me a cup of coffee."_

Lillian didn't want to fight, so she avoided expressing her thoughts.

The boy insisted, -Don't you hear anyone screaming? I'm going to have a look.-

As Seventeen ran away, Brent and Lillian hushed and listened; all they heard was the rustling of the wind in the pine trees. On impulse they ran after their co-worker, of whom they had already lost sight.

After running for ten minutes uphill without seeing him, Lillian found herself on the other side of the grove, near the basalt quarries. They were a pretty dangerous place where nobody usually went, apart from those who worked there. Lillian saw a collapsed embankment, at the point where the path skirted a small ravine tucked between the rocks and now blocked by a large branch. It could have been a tree itself, looking up the young woman saw that it had separated from a century-old larch. A high-pitched voice seemed to rumble from below, giving her the goosebumps.

-... tell me there isn't a kid down there.-

-Oh yes there is.-

Brent joined her and began to remove small debris with excitement. It was his first rescue! So shortly after he started working there, he was honoured.

Lillian thought about the practical side: they had to call someone with a crane or a forklift to move that branch and those pieces of rock blocking the mouth of the ravine.

-... we need heavy vehicles. I don't know how long it will take them to get up here, from North City.-

-But we do have the heavy vehicle!-

The Viking pointed to Seventeen, who reappeared from his patrol.

Lillian stared at him questioningly, while Brent felt confident: if he hadn't understood what the hell he had done with the landslide, he had indeed seen Seventeen lift up a jeep. Lillian, on the other hand, had only seen him lift two stones and touch a piece of wood. Seventeen looked into the ravine, a dark tunnel that went deep down inside the Earth; he spotted a girl with long pigtails, covered in dirt and all in tears before, out of nowhere, a sense of fear and suffocation overwhelmed him. He felt a crazed horse pawing in his chest and an adrenaline rush made him jump backwards. Lillian and Brent must not have noticed his reaction, only Seventeen felt the irrational tremor of his own limbs.

-Can we do anything for you?-

Lillian looked at him curiously as he took a moment to breathe. It seemed he didn't want to go in there ...

Leaning out from the edge of that long, narrow tunnel was a feat for Seventeen, but having his colleagues there gave him an unexpected confidence boost:

-Just be quiet, I'm coming.-

With a sweaty hand he moved the large trunk; then he closed his eyes, infiltrated the rocks and emerged a few seconds later with the girl in his arms.

-See? Classic Seventeen.-

_"Fucking bulldozer ..."_

Lillian was trying to understand how he could have gone down there and then back up without the need to climb.

All sweaty and with his heart still beating madly, Seventeen hurried to understand the state of the little girl: -How are you?-

-It hurts there.-

She had injured a leg, it looked like her shin was broken. Running out of ideas, Seventeen untied his scarf and arranged it in a makeshift bandage, as best he could.

He probably would have never got it back, but it wasn't important.

-Can I carry you?- he asked with a smile.

When the tourist who had inadvertently lost her daughter took her back from all three musketeers, Lillian watched John look admiringly at the mascot's scarf wrapped around the injured leg of the little girl. The old man did not wonder how he had got her out.

-And there it goes. My title.-

Lillian was sitting on the edge of the path, contemplating the scene with her eyes downcast. Brent looked at her, dismayed to see her sad. Even if what mattered to Brent was that someone in danger had been successfully rescued, he too was a little disappointed in Seventeen, who had disregarded them and had done everything himself, so fast that his co-workers hadn't even had the time to react or help.

When John finished congratulating Seventeen, Lillian gave the young man a killer look:

"This is war", she demanded, in a voice full of anger, preparing to return to Viey.

Lillian had thought about that intense, daring week for days. Every time she saw Seventeen, she thought about the sculpted body hidden under his wide shirts, about the crazy strength she had seen so little of, but which was sure to make her Olympic champion skills pale. At first she had been only curious about the oddities of Seventeen, there had been no real enmity.

However, now she wanted to know everything about him: she wanted to understand how his organism worked. She felt full of anger and hated that boy who had come out of nowhere and had shown her, with total carelessness, that he was a real tough guy. He didn't seem to even try to make her feel inferior. It came naturally to him.

Suddenly Lillian knew that she was not as extraordinary as she thought.

Lillian was a winner, she had always crushed the competition in any challenge life had presented her with: her willpower had made her win against an oppressive mother and her physical strength had made her excel in sports and work, corroborating her myth.

Yet she could count on the fingers of one hand the rescues that she had accomplished single-handedly during her whole career, plus most had consisted in getting down frightened people who had climbed too high in bad weather. In her eyes, Seventeen had been more relevant in a few days than she had been in two years.

It was that time when the smug brat had seamlessly carried out a very delicate rescue in a few minutes that Lillian finally understood that Seventeen was a great threat to her and her self-esteem: she was no match for him.

Thoughts of the author:

We have come to the end of a "Lapis-centric" chapter. The next one will see the adventures of Lazuli and Krillin again.

Here, Carly has no idea that her beloved Lapis now works in the RNP, but has finally found the strength to confess to Leni what haunts her.

Here I have narrated how I imagine Lapis's recruitment in the Royal Nature Park. John's speech is inspired by what my ranger friends in the Alps have told me over the years, especially when I was a kid!

For the monument that Brent studies, It's inspired by Stonehenge, a very famous historical site here in the south of the United Kingdom. For the tattoo on Brent's back, which I had already mentioned, I imagine Fenrir, a wolf in Norse mythology, son of the god Loki (whose name will be familiar to those who like mythology ... or Marvel!). The lifting of stones is a "sport" that is really done in the British Isles and in northern Europe, especially in competitions such as the "Strongman".


	19. A lone red Line and blurred Lines

-So tell me, little monk, what do you think of this composition?-

-According to the theory of colour even if the shades chosen by the artist seem casual, they are actually in harmony. That burgundy, dark and cold. That blue, dark and cold. And so on.-

Krillin had studied!

Luckily for him: Eighteen would have felt frustrated if he hadn't appreciated what he saw: she had dragged him from the Kame House to West City for an unusual day out, an exhibition that displayed the works of the most famous painters of the moment. Now, looking at that masterpiece put together with tiny brush strokes, Eighteen could only agree with him.

They were enjoying that exhibition passing from painting to painting hand in hand, the heels of Eighteen's chanel-style shoes tapping on the museum's parquet.

Of course, going out with a short man didn't stop her from wearing the shoes she liked. She didn't fathom why people took it for granted that Krillin would be offended.

It seemed that Krillin now enjoyed observing colours as she did. Since they were together he had been dressing much better, the red shirt he was wearing did him much more justice than his old orange and blue _gi _.

-Taking an interest in what you like is not a burden. But I know you still hold it against me.-

-That is right.-

He always went very far to impress her, so far that he never said no. Eighteen had already spent four good months with Krillin: he was sweet, he was good, he was funny. He was also complacent. Too complacent.

"_You know what, Kril? I wonder how it is possible that you always agree with me. You never contradict me, heaven forbid you laugh at my decisions; indeed, you've never decided anything because you always like what I think. Isn't it strange?"_

_"But Eighteen ... you are my soulmate and I am committed to making things go well. It's normal that we are in tune."_

_"Being in tune doesn't mean not having your own ideas and always refusing to confront and discuss!"_

They were at the Kame House. They both knew that surely Roshi, Yamcha, perhaps Puar and Oolong too, were eavesdropping outside of Krillin's bedroom; but no one had the patience to get angry at them.

_"Does it bother you that I'm too good?"_

Krillin was a good man, with a pure heart; that purity of his was what Eighteen loved most about him. But she was beginning to recognise a pattern already known to her:

"_Krillin ... I _love you _for your goodness. You must believe me when I say I _want to _be with you, don't try to call me a liar! And don't tell me you're not avoiding arguing with me, contradicting me and expressing your opinion so as not to slip up with me for fear that I will leave you. 'Cause you'll never be enough for me, right? I am _too much out of your league _and therefore to prevent someone more handsome than you from winning me over, you have to compensate by behaving like a good docile slave. True?" _

Krillin had sat down on the bed, with his face in his hands: _"That's it." _

He was afraid of a competition that she considered non-existent, he knew how the story goes: someone like him only needed a millisecond to lose a girl like Eighteen. It was better not to risk it. And by avoiding at all costs to infuriate her, he had ended up making it happen. It was the first time he had seen her face red with anger; she was always calm, even in the most emotional moments she could keep a cool head. Krillin couldn't see her like that now, she reminded him of when he'd seen her terrified before Cell took her.

"_But I want the real you, the warrior! Not a doormat." _

She wasn't that kind of woman. Not anymore, not with Krillin! Eighteen usually overwhelmed him with her questions: every time they needed to choose what to watch on TV, where to go out, the times she had asked him if she looked okay in an outfit, all those times had he really thought what he hd said? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

"_Tell me one thing, Krillin. When we came back here after the wish to Shenron and talked about that thing… " _

Roshi and Yamcha had stood at attention, behind the door: _" What thing? " _

_"Shhh! Shut up, Yamcha! Let me hear." _

_"When I asked you if you would like to have a baby with me, if you wanted to try ... was what you said true?" _

The room had fallen silent. The meddlers had looked at each other with wide eyes: _"A baby? But isn't she... " _

_" No, Yamcha, she's not made of metal. " _

_"And how do you know?" _

_"That meat is not fake: give that chick a closer look when she jumps and runs." _

Krillin had been moved with joy when Eighteen had asked him that question. Not only was it her way of saying that she saw a whole future ahead of them, it had even come from her. They would be a family someday ... The fact that they had been together for so little was irrelevant, they both knew they had found the person to share the rest of their lives with. The first attempt had been unsuccessful and a sudden phobia had sneaked in Eighteen's heart: that Gero had taken that possibility away from her.

"_When we saw that miserable, lone red line were you really as disappointed as I was? Did you console me because you really were sorry or was it all a scene? " _

_"Oh no ... now I'm sorry too", _Yamcha had whispered to Roshi, his ear still sticking to the door.

"_Eighteen, I really want a family with you. So bad. We will keep trying, don't be discouraged. Many couples have to try for a while."_

Eighteen's morale was grounded on that issue. She didn't usually think that one day she would want to become a mother and even when she did, she saw it as a project to be implemented much later. Instead, she found herself anxious and eager. She and Krillin were always trying, but the cyborg had decided not to even think about it anymore: she knew that Krillin was right, the experts considered it normal to take even more than six months, but she stubbornly preferred to think that she could not conceive. And going on to think about it every day, she became convinced. Now, in that West City gallery, Krillin wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his head on her breast: 

-The two of us love each other so much, but we are still a new couple: sometimes we still have to get to know each other. I _want to _trust you, I trust you! The problem is me...What happens is that sometimes the old instincts return, I have been hurt many times with other girls.-

-I am no _other girl_.-

They were hugging tightly; the bubble exploded with Eighteen's cell phone vibrating in her clutch:

-It's_ my mother again ... so annoying, I have already ignored the calls three times! _What is it, Kat? No, I have no idea where he is, I told you. How would I know, I don't have a radar! If it's about the guy, call me tonight, okay? Bye.-

-What's going on, love?-

-Nothing, my brother ditched my mother and she's mad. Yeah, good luck now Seventeen …-

Krillin, who remembered Kate Lang well, smiled at her tenderly. -Are you still scared of your mother?-

-Are you kidding? When she gets angry she knows how to shoot certain death stares... Now Seventeen will be fucked up when she fishes him out. And she will.-

/

Carly sat with Louisa in a coffee shop not far from her clinic in Verny, the former Northern capital that lay entirely within the borders of the RNP. She was glad to work there, she preferred Verny to North City: it looked like what Carly had always pictured a mountain town to look like, a place idyllic, with little concrete. She had heard from Brent that it was the last King who had a new larger and more modern city built. He had called it _North City_ and overnight it had become one of the most important cities in the world. However, it lacked the lived-in spirit of the old capital: North City had less character, there were no cobblestone streets and those quaint little cafés were rare, all one could find was mostly franchises. Carly hadn't had many opportunities to cross paths with John's wife, but Dr. Dubochet being a seasoned zoologist, Carly naturally saw her as an interesting person she could learn from. It had been a long time since they had sat down for a proper chat.

-Have you ever thought of becoming a zoologist, Der Veer?-

-Not exactly. Why?-

-You have an academic's mind, Leni tells me that you love your research, and that you do it anyway.-

Carly snorted; she was still furious with Leni, after she had given her the description of Lapis with disconcerting precision. Leni had been the first person Carly had confided her grief to: her behaviour had been a low blow for no reason:

-Leni, Madame Paperwork? What does she know, forget it.-

-Okay, but if you allow me I know the trade and have a say. If you ever get tired of being a vet, come and see me.-

Louisa was the one who supervised all the veterinarians and zoologists in the park's wildlife clinics. She had taught Carly that the North wasn't as peaceful a place as it appeared; Carly had been shocked when she learned that throughout the region, except within the RNP, wolf hunting was not only widespread but also encouraged by every means available.

"_But the poor beasts! They have to eat too." _

_"My girl, thank the poachers: they brought our mountain antelope to the brink of extinction and for about twenty years the wolves have been supernumerary: they take cows, sheep, horses, dogs, cats. Children, sometimes. " _

There and in another northern region, the Yunzabit Heights, people even went as far as shooting wolf packs from aircrafts. The poachers had hunted the natural prey of wolves for decades, wanting to take possession of its most exotic attribute: unlike other antelopes, those had only one horn, blue in colour towards the tip. Poachers sold these horns for lofty sums. Louisa collaborated with the governor of the North precisely on containment strategies:

_"You must be careful not to kill too many wolves, however, otherwise you risk the surplus of other species they prey upon." _

It was difficult to maintain the balance in the world: between people and people, between people and animals. Carly had never thought about it. After that interesting discussion with Dr. Dubochet she had begun to hate poachers even more and almost envied Lillian, who was allowed to shoot them if needed. But those days Lillian didn't seem to have the spirit to shoot anything. She looked extremely disheartened, sometimes she came home and lay down on the sofa, other times she almost cried. By the time Carly went up to Viey, around four o'clock, it was already night but she found Lillian sitting on the bench outside their chalet with a sad face.

-Lillian, talk to me. Tell me what's going on.-

As soon as Carly sat down, the ranger girl leaned her head on his shoulder, her blue headband sliding down her hair.

-Carly...John dumped a new guy on me, another one; I have to take him around with me, keep up with him, do the fucking babysitter. I'm _tired.-_

-Tired? You?-

Carly tried to be enthusiastic, assuming that the hyperactive Lillian was speaking in hyperbole. She couldn't take her seriously.

-Look, I also have a limit. What's more, Brent doesn't keep up with the pace.-

The part-time bemused tailor always complained when there was awkward work to do and seemed to think about his _Viking gatherings _more than he should; Lillian still couldn't understand how he could be a park ranger, with that spirit.

-We don't have the luxury of sitting on our hands, like Leni. It's so hard to get a place here and to whom they give it, to Brent.-

As far as Carly knew, Brent the bearded fellow was a very good story teller; what did it matter if he thought about his hobbies anyway?

-Maybe he's the comic relief.-

-Yes, at least it's funny. The other one is worse than me, and it's me who says it!-

Carly laughed at the thought of Lillian getting tired of keeping up with someone of her own kind.

-Well come on, as long as it's not the landslide guy…-

-Honey ... _It is _the landslide guy! Didn't I tell you?-

-Is it true that he has pretty blue eyes?-

Carly fell silent, realising that those words had now come out.

-Yep. Why?-

Giving up expecting a response from_ the cupcake_ Lillian blew into her hands, red with the crisp evening and looked down, shaking her head:

-If I'm not careful he takes all my jobs from me. You wouldn't believe how much money the RNP board gave him just to get him to sign the goddamn contract. I mean, calm down mate, come on!-

Lillian was quite touchy. She turned around pouting and muttering insults. For her, _top ranger _wasn't just a title: she had always done her best and wanted to be respected for that.

-Since high school I have been busting my ass like this, I had already aimed for this place and this career. And now, enters that phenomenon, who is sure to take all the credit because he carries out _my jobs too_. To hell with it!-

-Lillian ... if there is someone better than you in the world, it doesn't automatically mean you're worthless. Try to be objective.-

Carly was sorry to see her best friend so upset; if she hadn't known Lillian wouldn't have appreciated, she would have gone to knock on that aspiring _top ranger's _door herself to tell him off. Lillian sat back on the bench. -You know the tradition of making newcomers do embarrassing things, like I did with Brent? I told Seventeen, just tell me what kind of name is that, to remove the processionary caterpillars from the grove above Saint-Paul, without giving him protection.-

The beasts proliferated in autumn filling the pine trees with stinging caterpillars; they were harmful to the trees themselves and also to people and mammals such as lynxes and deer, but since from September on it could start snowing any moment, the rangers usually did not have to intervene, the frost killed them.

Carly gave her an unusually hard look: -Lillian? Those things are dangerous!-

-Yeah, it was actually a challenge to decline.-

The top ranger was counting on the brat not actually doing it. Instead he had removed them all, larvae, eggs and adults. Lillian didn't even want to know what sorcery he had done.

-Look, processionary caterpillars can do a lot of harm.-

-Not to that guy.-

The next day, Seventeen had showed up for work as fresh as a daisy, without blisters on his hands. John had praised him as an example of zeal and efficiency. -Look Carly, it gives me a headache to think about it, you have no idea: sometimes I think that if a tank was to run him over, the tank would get hurt.-

Day after day, Lillian was gossiping so much about this Seventeen guy that Carly had started to find it funny. Having heard it from Lillian too, Carly now believed the story of the landslide, and also the other anecdotes about Seventeen's prodigious strength that her friend told her, in her desperate need for catharsis.

-What is it?-

When she talked, Lillian often saw Carly smile to herself.

-Nothing. It's hot.-

-My fucking _nemesis _ishot?-

-... I don't know. I meant the might, the ardor, the initiative.-

Lillian didn't believe the stereotype that redheads had to be horny and kinky, but Carly laughed at her admitting she wasn't the best person to deny it.

As with everything she did, Lillian focused all her energy in detesting her co-worker, and Carly had her doubts:

-You put so much effort into speaking ill of the guy, do you like him? You sound obsessed.-

Lillian was just frustrated; although she confessed that at least in sheer attractiveness, the brat was not a total disaster.

-I figured you still liked Joel.-

-Of course I always like him. I mean, look at him!-

/

At work, Lillian was too busy to think about her rivalry with " the seven-eleven". By now November was upon the North and it was necessary to carefully watch the paths and walls, due to the storms that hit the RNP with more force in the season preceding the great snowfalls. And when the snow fell, all rangers would be on guard for avalanches and mudslides. Brent was the buffer between her and the mascot. The Viking seemed to want to spend as much time with them as he could, and when Brent was around Seventeen didn't seem so bad: he laughed often and loudly, rather than throwing in caustic zingers. Brent took as gospel truth everything the brat told him, especially when he begged him to train him.

-I can't help it.-

-Try harder, Sev! It's not always just a matter of strength.-

Brent, still shirtless, was in position to strike Seventeen. Lillian had stood watching them as the brat blindfolded himself.

-One, two, three,- Brent smiled, charging a punch and seeing that his opponent had already moved. Erroneously, towards him. -Four!-

His fist had hit the air: still blindfolded, Seventeen had grabbed him by the collar and was now holding him off the ground.

-... but how did you do it, I was pretending! Will you put me down?-

Lillian wanted to laugh, but nervously clapped her hands:

-Okay, psychos! If you're done, would you guys come with me to patrol the picnic area back there?-

Lillian was walking quietly through the woods, with Brent and Seventeen trying to walk putting the same foot forward, without trying to hide from her:

"_Just like preschoolers."_

When they reached a sunny picnic area, the rangers saw three people gathered around a barbecue. Brent saw what must have been quarters of some roasted animal, -Hey people! You can't hunt here!-

Some sort of long blue and white sticks poked out of a large plastic bag stowed in the open trunk of an off-road vehicle. Blood dripped from the open zip. Seventeen was on guard. Under the lingering scent of the barbecue and the blood of the killed mountain antelopes, he could smell gunpowder. Lillian noticed that he was silent and at attention.

-Come on, down with us. Come on,- the girl grabbed the only woman in the group and led her on the path. The men stayed behind. As Brent motioned to catch them, Seventeen saw everything in slow motion; before Brent had time to reach the two remaining poachers a kind of strong gust hit him, lifting him and throwing him into a nearby bush which swallowed him, making him disappear from the view of anyone who was there. It all happened in the space of a few minutes. Before the woman standing in front of Lillian could take her gun out of her boot to shoot the girl, the third ranger materialized before her. He pushed her away violently, perhaps too hard, but before hitting a tree she still managed to fire a shot, just as one of the men loaded their shotguns. The bang of the shot filled the air, joined by Lillian's groan: hit in the shoulder, she rolled backwards onto a picnic table. The two remaining poachers began to fire. Seventeen jumped over Lillian and used his body as a shield, completely covering her. Wounded, confused and crushed under Seventeen, Lillian heard the shots but didn't understand why the bullets were no longer hitting them. She thought she was looking at her surroundings through some kind of green filter. On the other side of the battlefield, even the shooters were confused: their bullets had not pierced the boy's body, their new target, and were now crashing against a green glass dome-thing, emitting sparks like rubbing flints.

Before there was time to insert new cartridges into the shotguns Seventeen made sure Lillian wasn't looking. He borrowed her weapon and aimed faster than lightning at the duo's ankles. The men fell without even realising that they had been hit. The cyborg ran to pick up the woman who had hit a pine; seeing the way her head dangled he cursed between his teeth. Sometimes Seventeen struggled to relativize. It was a step that testified to growth, but what had happened with Cell had been a lesson and he was tired of kidding himself: they were not many, but there were stronger warriors than him. Vegeta, Son Goku, Son Gohan, Sixteen himself all outclassed him. Therefore, thinking that they were stronger Seventeen often forgot how lethal he was anyway. Until incidents like that happened: he had pushed that woman too hard for her to survive the impact. She had died instantly.

_"Mental note for next time: _Do not fling basic humans _. They break." _

The time of messing around was over. Maybe he really had to behave like an adult: he had a job now, to protect, to keep order. Now he could no longer kill as he pleased. As he had done with the Magenta Commando, the cyborg discreetly incinerated the only evidence of his inattention. Lillian was panting with her face against the wooden table, and butcher broom's leaves had stuck all over emerging Brent. He had been unlucky, did he really have to fall there? He had missed all the action: returning to the picnic area he saw two poachers, although he had initially assumed there were three. They crawled on the ground trying to move, groaning in pain. He saw Lillian lying on a bloody table and Seventeen sitting next to her.

-Say ... Sev, help …-

Brent also rushed to the table. Although he didn't have time to ask himself certain questions, he saw that his colleague's clothes were propped up over his back and legs, but that the skin underneath was untouched.

-Ahh it hurts!-

-Don't fret, I'll take care of it.-

_-_Don't you push like that! Ouch!-

-Did I hurt you?- Seventeen took Lillian in his arms, careful not to touch the wound.

-Guys…- Maybe it was the stress, but Brent chuckled as he heard his colleagues exchange a series of double entendres.

-I'm not dying, I heard you! Stop it,- Lillian frowned at the Viking and then screamed again, clutching her injured shoulder. As he passed with Lillian in his arms Seventeen spoke quietly, gravely:

-Tie those two up and take them down to the police station. You'll have to stick them in their jeep, I hit them in the tendons and they can't move. See you.-

Brent watched him run off with Lillian and thought of calling an ambulance, and John too, as he sat at the wheel of the poacher vehicle. When Seventeen came out of the forest, many people were there watching. An ambulance arrived shortly after, sirens blaring, and John came in with a bewildered look. Lillian moaned faintly, Seventeen handed her over to the paramedics and followed into the ambulance, -I'll go with her.-

The old ranger held his apprentice's hand and held the boy's shoulder, gratefully, -Okay, but I have to come too.-

It hurt to see Lillian suffer. The ambulance left before Brent had time to get to the valley. When the injured delinquents were hurriedly delivered to a small local clinic he sat down there and began to write down the confusing experience he had just witnessed.

_"But ... how odd that that strong wind pushed me away just as they were about to shoot ..." _

He heard the noise of another car parking, looked up and saw the girl who must have been Lillian's roommate, the cute red-haired vet.

She raced toward him, out of breath.

-What happened? Lillian, where is he?-

-Three ... no, two poachers attacked us with shotguns.-

When he explained what had happened, the girl bit her nails:

-She is my best friend …-, Carly spoke in a sigh, accepting the truth in her own words as a few tears rolled down her cheek. Instinctively Brent took her hand and smiled at her:

-Don't you worry, Charley.-

-Carly.-

-During the accident we teamed up, Lillian was never alone. And then we had Sev with us, our tough colleague, he's like the toughest guy ever and he practically jumped between Lill and the bullets.-

The girl put her hand to her forehead, murmuring a _oh_ _my God _:

-And how are they?-

-Lill is in good hands, it was only a superficial wound. Seventeen, alive and well, he went with John in the ambulance.-

A phone rang and the Viking joyfully read a message from John. Lillian had just entered the operating theatre.

-It's not bad! They are removing the bullet now, local anaesthesia. John said not to join them, they will be back with Lillian tonight or tomorrow morning.-

The vet still seemed to be in turmoil. Brent was sorry he couldn't reassure her.

-Hey Carly; why don't eggs tell jokes?...Because they'd crack each other up!-

Lillian's operation had lasted little more than fifteen minutes. The bullet had lodged deep into the muscle of her shoulder, tearing it apart, but leaving the joint intact. It was good news.

/

John and Seventeen found Lillian lying on the bed with a drip into her arm.

-Do either of you will decently explain what happened? I reckon there were two poachers.-

Three, Lillian corrected; two, the cyborg retorted. John stared intently at the young ranger:

-So you acted as a human shield for Lillian. I don't even want to ask you how …-

-That's right, don't investigate.-

-And you used Lillian's shotgun to shoot the poachers?-

-Sure. Not to kill, but if you cut the tendons they can't stand up and be a nuisance.-

John was furious. In addition to questioning the boy about his obvious skills as a marksman, he said that Leni was right after all: Seventeen was too hot-headed to put a gun in his hands, despite him having taken the tests and being eligible.

But then if he took his colleague's gun…

Lillian should have enjoyed seeing her boss punish her rival, actually guilty of an infringement. But suddenly those rules seemed meaningless to her:

-John, leave him alone. He saved my life, can you please let go?-

The old man held Lillian's gaze, knowing that if Seventeen wasn't there, she would have been killed. Those delinquents were also taking away a couple of antelopes, they were even roasting one! Seventeen wasn't the one who deserved punishment, in the end.

-Okay, just because you saved her. I'll keep an eye on you.-

Seventeen sat on the bed and Lillian poked him to make him thank the boss. Lillian begged John not to warn her mother about the accident: the less they saw each other, the better. Lillian claimed that the woman would be able to sue _the RNP_ for _allowing _her to get hurt, rather than thanking him and Seventeen for their help. For the rest, even if Lillian had had a hard time and thought for a moment she would have died, it was part of the job.

-...my mother! Can I borrow your cell?-

Seventeen suddenly remembered that Kate hadn't heard from him for nearly a month. He had never went home after the raid in Yunzabit Heights. Kate must be mad.

-Tsk,you are something: you could have gone back to say hello...If you were my son, I would have killed you long ago.-

-Don't worry, I think I've tempted her many times.-

The line sounded empty; Seventeen felt a little anxious, Lillian tried small talk, -I haven't asked you yet where you're from. The Centre, isn't it? You have the same accent as my best friend.-

Across the line, Kate replied and almost insulted him. _No _he hadn't disappeared, he had found a job by chance. _Yes _, he liked being a ranger in the North. He didn't live in a quaint house of wood and stone but in a normal building, sharing a three-bedroom flat with two colleagues. Yeah, he had to buy another cell phone because if he didn't want to go home and get his.

Having settled the mummy matter Seventeen sat chatting with Lillian. Without irony this time. They managed to converse civilly, or almost.

-Can I ask you something? I have to.-

Lillian braced herself for the worst, -Yeah, shoot.-

-Your hair is red but your brows are brown. So which one is the fake colour? Because one of them is fake, I have no doubts. Super fake.-

-That's it, I get it!-

Was that all? The _secret _was that she dyed her hair every two weeks, with cool red henna. That wacko seemed to have put his heart at peace now that she had revealed the mystery.

Lillian peeked behind his lips, at his particularly sharp canines.

-What about those _mini fangs_, are they yours? You know, since vampire teeth were all the rage a few years ago, people had them done at the dentist's.-

Did people really do that?

Lillian expected Seventeen to tell her he was a fourth shark or something along that line, but that time she got an honest, even decent answer:

-Ah, my _mini fangs..._No plastic surgery, that's what nature has given me.-

-Come here Sev.-

As Seventeen moved closer, Lillian put her arms around him; mutual dislike was usually convenient for both, yet this time Lillian and Seventeen knew that for a moment some kind of spark had been there. Something intangible. Encouraging implicit consent, he reacted to the provocation and closed her in a hug. They closed their eyes and their lips touched; then, they exchanged deeper, parted-lips kisses and only stopped when he started giggling. Lillian was beginning to realise that things between the two of them had the potential to grow even more uncomfortable and embarrassing:

-Fuck. This is all so funny to you, isn't it?-

-No but you are weird, what's got into you? Tell me something romantic now, while you're at it.-

\- What's got into you too, huh...-

Romance wasn't Lillian's strong suit, so she didn't hesitate to say something honest in return. -I think that...I might like the taste of your saliva.-

\- ... oh my, I can feel the butterflies!-

Lillian was offended by his half-amused, half-bewildered grimace: Seventeen was certainly not in a position to tease her. She watched him smile slyly and smoothed back her hair. Lillian didn't understand what the hell had happened and didn't know how to feel. She opted for the safest reaction, sour indifference:

-Listen, let's pretend nothing happened, God forbid I think about it when I have to see your smug face at work. Now that you've vented your male, animal instincts get out of here.-

For _her _instincts, however, she could always blame the fumes of anaesthesia. That was a day to forget; among the poachers, the bullet and the fact that the brat knew how to kiss it was better to draw a veil.

-If this is _venting …-_

-Go, Sev.-

As Seventeen left, a nurse rushed to Lillian's room. She was worried, she had received a notification from the machinery tied to the patient's finger: her heart rate had suddenly spiked, if it hadn't gone down the doctors would surely have kept her in the hospital for the night.

/

Another fateful Saturday had arrived. Kate was in trouble this time, she was about to go on her third date and she was hell-bent on looking beautiful. For the other two dates she hadn't given it much thought, she had met good Ronan in her usual work attire: _business chic _, as Lazuli called it.

Since _she_ was the fashion addict, Kate took her at her word. Over the phone her daughter had told her that this time she would have to be _chic _and that's all. On the first date Kate had wanted to keep an open mind about Ronan, but had quickly declared that she was very busy with her anti-violence network.

_"I'm just out of an eight-year relationship and am now a big old bachelor. You have children, if I remember correctly." _

Ronan walked beside her in the Central City Botanical Gardens. Accustomed to that kind of conversation, Kate had replied almost automatically:

_"Yes, a boy and a girl of twenty-one. Twins." _

Although she had never depended on them for romantic love choices, they counted more to her than any admirer.

_"Yes, now I remember the story. It's incredible...Well, I hope that one day I will meet them." _

_"Are you sure you want to get involved with the two-headed dragon?" _

That was what Kate had always called the twins when they drove her crazy.

Kate wasn't afraid of getting old: she wasn't lying about her age of forty-six and the occasional white hair didn't bother her, but now that she _wanted to _be beautiful for a man she was aware of no longer being in her prime. What if Ronan found her old, withered?

_"You are more than okay, my dear,"_ Kate cheered herself, _ "You definitely can't complain. Getting older, your features just got a little sharper, rather than having a collagen breakdown; what's wrong with flaunting your killer cheekbones?" _

On the second date Ronan had told her that the silver strands in her dark hair looked like shooting stars, it was the most romantic thing Kate had heard in the last twenty years.

Ronan understood her insecurities: _"Kate, I'm forty-three and I'd be fine with someone who has already lived for a while. Not all men want young girls." _

Ronan was no Adonis: he was tall and a little overweight, with a weak chin and features gentler than Kate's. His innocent green eyes were magnified by thick-rimmed square glasses, a tribute to his favourite director. He had always been a cinema lover but had preferred to launch into podcast production when he was still working as a talent scout.

He made her laugh, he was endearing. Kate was very demanding on that, she didn't want to be bored. She thought fleetingly that her son had indeed taken after her for this.

Ronan could be worthy of her, even if aesthetically much inferior: Lazuli herself had taken a stand against the idea of conventional beauty and Kate had appreciated that inspiration.

She was surprised to go through all the steps of falling in love now in her forties, so far from the age when a girl still wonders when is the best time for the first kiss, or with what kind of lingerie to complete an outfit.

Kate had wounds that had never healed.

With the only man she had ever loved it had all been a rollercoaster of extreme emotions; if the man who had given her Lapis and Lazuli had been a rushing river, this Ronan was a canal made for navigating; he conveyed serenity and slowness, a profound peace. There was affection and devotion in his tone, in the way he hummed off-key as they drove together. They had just met but sometimes Ronan made her forget her sorrows with his ability to find beauty in "trivial" moments.

Kate chose her trusty little black dress; in the end she decided that, of all the clothes she was going to wear were not that important, she wanted to finally wear a smile.

Kate grinned in front of her wardrobe too, remembering that for Ronan no outfit was ever perfect without a smile.

/

Thoughts of the author:

In this chapter we've got emotional action for everyone, even if I think the big up is Eighteen and Krillin ! Who also had their first fight ... In my version she proposes to start a family and we all know how it ends, even if for now she is demoralized by that single red line = not pregnant :(

Kate too, after a long time , finds someone who inspires her and is giving him a third chance. Ronan's homage is to Woody Allen, who I couldn't name him because I don't think he exists in the DB universe.


	20. Seize the Day

Eighteen sat in the midst of a noisy audience. If there had been one, she would have gladly paid for a seat in the VIP area, so as not to have to constantly hear in stereo a cacophonic confusion of people making a whole whoop-de-doo, chewing, slurping up drinks with a straw, screaming, chewing, ...All that noise echoed in her head and Eighteen's super hearing was a drawback, in that case.

Beside her sat a young woman of her age, delicate-looking, enthusiastically brandishing a banner bearing the name of the wrestler she cheered for:

-Come on Cheetah! Break a few noses!-

She stopped cheering as soon as she realised that the girl in a miniskirt sitting next to her - certainly a model - was looking at her with innate haughtiness.

-Hey, what's the problem. I'm just cheering on the best fighter in the tournament, my boyfriend. His name is Chet but everyone calls him Cheetah, guess why.-

"Cheetah" was fighting as they spoke, he was about to win the last match of the day, the one to take him to the semifinals. Eighteen was not familiar with martial arts tournaments. She didn't want to argue about it, but the girl made her nervous and she had solid arguments, -_My _boyfriend will win the Tenkaichi tournament anyway. He's just the strongest human on Earth.-

-Okay honey, but just to make it clear this isn't the Tenkaichi tournament! The next one will be in five years if I'm not mistaken and it will be on Papaya Island, as usual …-

Eighteen stared absently at her turquoise hair and trendy outfit. She wondered if that girl knew she was sun-burning: the heat of late October was no longer killer even in that corner of the Earth, but her cleavage was deep and her skin looked unsuited for prolonged sunbathing; Eighteen also began to feel an itch on her shoulders and neck, left exposed by the recent trim to her bob...The cheering girl took the model's silence as too much insolence on her part:

-... but I can't judge you, I didn't know anything about these things up to a couple of years ago. Is all of this new to you?-

-More or less.-

-My ex made me discover the world of martial arts! He was also very strong...then we broke up, the _Cell situation _happened and I don't know what happened to him. I met Chet shortly after and I've been following him ever since in every tournament, it is an honour for me to see him win. And what are you doing here, is your boyfriend Mr. Satan?-

Eighteen was doing the same thing. For Krillin martial arts were a profession rather than a passion; that was how he made his living. And by winning he often earned quite good money, only he never enrolled frequently enough to afford a home of his own. Now, after Eighteen had proposed to him to start a family, that of the house had become a new priority and Krillin had decided to get down to business and participate in many tournaments. That one, in a city not far from Roshi's archipelago, was the first stage of the new adventure in which the human and the cyborg had launched: the months ahead of them would have been exciting and with the consequent earnings of Krillin they could also have moved out the Kame House. Eighteen did not mind the idea of signing up and participating, which meant winning, but at that moment in her life she felt like she wanted to stay away from fighting, if not to support Krillin. Once Chet "Cheetah" won his quota for the day, the girl went off to meet him in the locker room of the sports complex:

-It was interesting to discuss our fighter boyfriends! If yours makes it to Chet's levels, maybe we'll cross paths again. Just out of curiosity, who is your man?-

-Krillin. There he is, he is now entering the ring.-

From afar Eighteen saw Krillin waving for her. When Eighteen turned back to her interlocutor, she saw the latter looked pallid and uncomfortable.

-Krillin _of Turtle Island _? Is he here too?-

-He signed up at the last minute, but there he is,- Eighteen greeted with a smile, waving her arm.

-And you're his ... wow. Just, wow. I have to go now.-

After greeting Eighteen again, the girl disappeared as if in a daze, without the Eighteen being able to understand the reason for her sudden change of mood. Krillin's fight lasted literally nine seconds. It took nothing for the warrior to push his opponent out of the ring, tomorrow he would have done the same, until the finals where he would have ... still done the same. Seeing Eighteen in the stands gave him incredible energy: the fact that he was part of the _Z Warriors _already gave him all the possible and imaginable advantage in tournaments, but with Eighteen there he turned into a ninja. He was precise, essential and graceful. A true prodigy, as the announcer shouted his name and the crowd cheered him: -Krillin of Turtle Island, ladies and gentlemen!-

Like Cheetah's girl, Eighteen also met Krillin in the empty locker room, once he won all ten quarter-final fights; she gave him a quick kiss and handed him a clean towel.

-Do you know that, considering only pure martial arts are used in this kind of tournament, without _ki _or advanced things, I have never had better technique?- he smiled.

-My mother would say that you are conditioning yourself because you know I'm here, but I like it if my presence helps you.- Eighteen sat astride Krillin, whose gi wasn't even sweaty. -Apparently you are renowned. But what is it with the turtle?-

-It's my stage name, since I live on Turtle Island. It packs a punch.-

-Ah, and what about this pack?- Eighteen spoke in an increasingly hoarse voice and mischievously passed the tip of her index finger over his six pack, trailing it up to his sculpted chest and shoulders, -Strongest human in the world …-

-Mmm ... Eighteen ... right here?-

While she placed playful little kisses on his face and chest, Krillin unconsciously stroked her hips and buttocks. He hoped no one would come in at that moment, for he liked the turn things were taking. Because of the difference in height he found himself with his face buried between the breasts of the cyborg girl, while she took off her top and ruffled her hair, perhaps to give herself the sexy but innocent look of the girl next door. Eighteen cherished those fleeting moments with Krillin, when the excitement arose from the fact that anyone could have surprised them; they had learned to make the most of the situation at the Kame House, a permanently full house where having complete intimacy was unthinkable. But Eighteen loved that hasty secrecy, it felt to her like the triumph of small daily pleasures over the destiny written by Gero or accomplished by Cell; she should never have known a life of moments like that.

Sometimes she could no longer resist the temptations of life and would wake Krillin in the middle of the night to make love. The night after the day at the sports complex was one of those. It was four in the morning and the darkness of late October was already thick; in the Satan City hotel room Eighteen lay prone in bed, curled up against Krillin; she still felt full with his semen and she sighed, still secretly hoping that her womb wasn't a barren ground where nothing would take root.

She was certain that no organ was missing, she wondered why Doctor Gero had not removed her reproductive system: if what he had in mind for her was the annihilation of the human race, with whom did he think she would mate? With the only male of her own kind, her brother?

Ugh, no. _Definitely _not _. _

She and Seventeen were the only machines ever created that could potentially fall pregnant, or impregnate.

_"And in fact we are not machines." _

Eighteen knew that fertility could be influenced by genetic factors, and that was reassuring to her: aged twenty-four, almost two years older than her, her mother had even conceived twins without any special effort. Eighteen had also heard the same about the way a woman reacted to pregnancy; Eighteen was reminded of Kate's accounts, which she had never given weight to, but which now made her apprehensive. When expecting Lapis and Lazuli Kate had puked for six out of nine months, sometimes even while out on the street or doing normal things like loading a washing machine, or sweeping the floor. Even though it wasn't mathematical, Eighteen feared it could happen to her too: she would _hate _spending so much time in such a state.

In fact, she plainly couldn't stand the thought; perhaps the fact that the baby she was looking for was late in arriving wasn't all that bad. Moreover, now there were all the tournaments and the project of buying a house at stake, the time for a child would come slowly, without haste. Bringing her mind back to the present, the cyborg girl wondered if Krillin ever felt drained keeping up with her, but that was an easy fear to dispel. Nature had given him a compact body but he had an energy within him, a determination that extended beyond that stocky chest and short legs.

/

Meanwhile in the North, in the Viey chalet, Carly was helping Lillian to bandage her recovering shoulder. Lillian commented on the new message on her cell phone, -It's Bronwyn. She says '_Do you want to meet?'-_

_-_Doesn't that sound minimally suspicious to you?- inquired Carly, -This girl always speaks ill about you and then out of nowhere she is interested in spending time with you.-

-Maybe she wants to apologize, that we talk about it …-

-To apologize! You have two male colleagues who from what you tell me are attractive, and she is using you to get closer to them.-

-...she wouldn't?!-

-Don't tell me you didn't see it,- sighed the natural redhead. Sometimes Lillian would think like a dumb man... -Just think that before I got together with Lapis there were so many little tramps to put back where they belonged; even when we were already together!-

-Lapis? Is that your beau's name?-

-Yes, it _was_.-

-But why are you so convinced he's dead and gone ! The police never found the body, did they?-

From the way Carly had told her she _had put the little tramps back in their place _and had looked at her, it once again seemed to Lillian that the sweet Carly wasn't as sweet as she looked.

_"Brent is seeing Leni, but Sev ..." _

Exactly as Carly had predicted, Bronwyn stopped caring about her the day Lillian managed to get "Sevvy" to go out with her one night. Lillian grew curious, but the brat didn't reveal much about that date other than that he'd found Bronwyn unpleasant and had nearly fallen asleep: not even the indisputable attractiveness saved the boring botanist from being a mismatch for him.

-And more good news for me, next month they will proclaim the year's _top ranger_. Yay.-

-Then congratulate him, since he saved your neck.-

She had already given him her congratulations, and what congratulations!

Lillian told in a few words what had happened in the hospital, -And well, the boy knows his way. Goddamn it…-

Lillian ended the discussion on a neutral tone, watching a very excited Carly squeak and jump. What a fascinating creature: still so reluctant to reopen her heart, but always able to imagine great things for others.

In love with love itself.

/

In the Satan City district, Krillin fought his way up to the finals in the blink of an eye and effortlessly defeated even the very fast Cheetah, taking home a hefty sum of zeni.

-Eh, Chet had no chance against Krillin. I knew it already.-

Eighteen smiled at the irrefutable words of the enthusiastic fan she had already met.

-He did well nonetheless. Tell me how you know Krillin.-

-Not to offend you, Krillin is a golden boy and I wish you two all the joy in the world, but there are so many things I know about him and that he knows about me. Things like how I like to sleep, where are my moles …-

Even though she knew that girl must have felt threatened by her, for the first time Eighteen felt an unpleasant emotion that was not anger, sadness, nor fear: a bastard thing that was making her guts knot once again. Was it ... was it _jealousy _? But _real_ jealousy, not what she felt toward her brother in certain situations. It was the fear that someone would take Krillin from her.

-Good. I'll have a lifetime to find out.-

That conversation had triggered something. Not that she felt inferior to that nameless ex, in fact, the ex had fortuitously been the courage boost Eighteen needed. With a romantic determination she would never have believed herself capable of, Eighteen had repeated the words alone in the bedroom for a few days, hoping that the right time to say them to Krillin would come.

That moment was _now_. And she didn't want to waste her time.

Eighteen went down to the ring where Krillin was still chatting with other people from the tournament, where journalists took pictures and interviewed the fighters; all the people gathered there murmured, camera flashes clicked as a supermodel marched carelessly through the crowd, heading toward the winner Krillin and hugging him. So in that crowded place Eighteen, habitually so pleased with herself for being haughty and unrelatable, gave one of the longest speeches of her life:

-Krillin: ours is a new relationship and as you say, we still have a lot to learn from each other. I'm not the easiest person to live with and you are working hard to make me happy, to make _us _happy. I know that we didn't prepare but there is no need for rings and fuss, because we already have the essential: being with you makes me happy, you are writing a new destiny with me. I want you for me, for real: maybe I'll be going too fast but the truth is, Krillin, I haven't gone through all of my miseries to fall in love and then be just your _girlfriend, _like other random people. We know what we want and that's what matters. Let's do it. Let's get married.-

The words did not get stuck in her throat as she had feared, but her eyes remained fixed on those of the warrior, forgetting to study the surroundings and therefore not being able to prevent a camera from filming that moment, broadcasting it on the various large screens of the sports complex.

The whole of the audience stood up, applauded and whistled when Krillin of Turtle Island said yes, lifted the supermodel and then kissed her, in a jiffy. Looking at them in amazement, the girl who had just pushed the model to take a big step with Krillin didn't forget to film the scene with her cell phone.

_-Go, bro!-_

_-Congratulations! Hold on to that gem of a girl, never let her go!-_

_-What a boss, Krillin!-_

Heart racing, Krillin clapped his hand against many other tense hands as he walked into the city clutching the wonder that she would soon be his wife.

-Krillin! Hey!-

Still immersed in the torpor of plenitude, Krillin recognized a voice in the crowd. A voice he had not heard for a long time and which he did not think he would hear again. The timbre was shrill and joyful, and the voice was soon accompanied by many small, tapping steps.

The girl was running, dragging the Cheetah.

-You know what's crazy? That both I and your _ex_ were there, side by side in the stands.-

-You two ... did you two meet?-

-Krillin dear, I didn't know she was your girlfriend when I started a conversation with her! She was sitting next to me. I told her about us.-

-Ah, Maron …-

Krillin ran a hand over his suddenly tired face; and even the Cheetah seemed amazed, to say the least, to learn that his girlfriend had passed by the great Krillin of Turtle Island!

-But don't worry, it's just water under the bridge. Isn't it _Maron_?-

Eighteen looked at the blue-haired girl, who immediately felt a great need to end the conversation.

-Sure, water under the bridge. She is with me now. Great fight, though. And congratulations on your engagement,- the Cheetah shook Krillin's hand and Maron hugged him.

-Anyway, congratulations Krillin, you got yourself a stunning _doll_... where did you find her?-

Eighteen resented all that confidence, -In the lab of a mad scientist after I was activated. You know, I'm neither a model nor a _doll _: I'm a cyborg.-

Eighteen seemed to have lost the angelic aura that had surrounded her shortly before, when she had made her proposal in front of a full stadium. Maron chuckled and then hurried to leave, dragging the Cheetah.

Krillin was now afraid that Eighteen would be angry at him for never telling her about Maron: he didn't really intend to hide anything, Maron belonged to an era in his life so distant that he no longer considered it relevant. And if the era of suffering he had endured with Maron was now distant, it was only thanks to Eighteen. When he turned around to tell her all this, she kissed his forehead; her eyes, already narrow, became oblique.

-I was just playing with her! That woman couldn't threaten me in any way ... -

-And did you see their faces when you said "cyborg" ?!-

High fiving his belle Krillin laughed out loud, remembering the steely eyes with which Eighteen had looked at Maron and Chet, and the way they had lost colour.

/

/

The two sweethearts ended up spending a substantial chunk of Krillin's prize for the upcoming ceremony. Never had been the warrior happier to invest his money. Together they chose two plain gold rings, their wedding rings, before setting out in search of a suitable attire.

-Are you sure you don't want to tell anyone?-, Krillin asked, relaxing on an armchair.

Eighteen's voice rang out from inside the dressing room, -No, for now I want something elope-y, just you and me. We could then have another celebration with our loved ones, I'd love to, but first it's just you and me. How do I look?-

The dry snap of the curtain opening did not prepare Krillin for the vision of Eighteen in a short, simple and fresh white dress. A shop assistant placed a symbolic veil on her head, just to help her get into the moodand see herself already as a bride. Eighteen had chosen the dress from the "ceremony" section of that boutique; it was not a _real _wedding gown, just an elegant cocktail dress. Just what she wanted.

-I …-

The astonished expression on her fiancé's face and the light that flashed in his black eyes made Eighteen's heart melt, -Now we have to find a suit for you.-

/

The city hall looked elegant.

Indeed, no one ever imagines city halls to be beautiful pieces of architecture with interiors worthy of stately homes, but Satan City's was a thing of beauty. Waiting to be called, the future bride and groom sat in a large marble hall, thin muted red columns rising from the chequered floor to the vaulted ceiling. Eighteen liked that aesthetic, she thought that if her house had looked like this she would have felt like a proper princess.

-Krillin: for legal reasons, yesterday I asked our officiant something. I want you to always call me Eighteen, because that's the name you met me by, but ...-

-Mr. and Mrs. Krillin?-

When the city hall clerk called them, the two of them couldn't help but laugh at that name. The interior of the oak-paneled parlour was decorated with drapes and bows of white satin, occasional frills that were to be used for all unorganized weddings like theirs. The rows of wooden benches were empty, as no one but the two of them would witness the magic that was about to take place. The officiant, the mayor of the city, stood aside with a benevolent look on his face and an open tome in his hands:

-Well, good evening Lazuli, Krillin; whenever you want.-

Krillin was thrilled to hear someone call his betrothed by her birth name. Here was what she was telling him, before they were interrupted. That was her real name, the one on the birth certificate, the _legal _one . Yeah, because what Gero had done to her was anything but legal. A quick thought crossed his mind: how much would he have loved to always call her by her real name, a beautiful musical name worthy of a creature as precious as a gem. But that was a topic that could wait.

-And so ... here we are.-

Krillin's hands trembled as he took Eighteen's and put the ring around her finger. He looked with shining eyes at the woman of his dreams, no, at the woman who was a dream come true, standing in front of him in her satin pumps. He looked at her happy eyes, at her hair adorned with a pearl comb, at the bouquet of white and pink roses she held.

-Eighteen. I often wondered why I had to suffer so much, as a fighter and as a man. I have often been considered a loser, by myself in the first place. Even though I have trusted friends the opinion I had of myself didn't change, until the day I saw you. Then the magic happened. When I saw you, when you kissed me that day, everything else disappeared. And I'm so glad we accepted love, I am so overwhelmed by the joy of having you, by having the privilege of sharing my only life with you. You have made me brave, you have made me grow and you have already given me things that no one else, not even Shenron, could ever give me. You're my happy ending, Eighteen. -

When he finished speaking, the expression on Eighteen's face was open, moved. She smiled at him, delicately taking his ring:

-Krillin. Before you I almost despised the human race, for personal reasons that I hardly remember; I also despised myself for never being able to have what I was looking for. Then it happened what happened and I... I was scared. You have always been there, through all the tribulations of my new life. Every day your smile makes me happy. You are different and you love me for who I am, you don't want to change me; on the contrary you love me for who I am and accept my experiences. Many would make a fuss about my heels, forget about my strength. And I feel more and more in love with your way of seeing the world, you are a hymn to life that represents the best of my rebirth. You gave meaning to all this, Krillin. You are _life.-_

Krillin could not hold back a tear. He wiped it off before it could roll down his cheek, and let out a small sigh.

For the mayor, the time came to fulfill his duty.

-Now repeat after me, Krillin: 'I, Krillin',- -I, Krillin.-

\- 'Take you, Lazuli as my lawful wedded wife'.-

-Take _you, Lazuli_ as my lawful wedded wife.-

Emotion flowed as both of them repeated the vows.

When he also had the consent of Lazuli, the mayor closed his tome.

-And therefore, invested by the power of the district and the jurisdiction of Satan City, I officially declare you husband and wife. You can kiss the bride.-

/

Outside the city hall, Krillin could not resist anymore: if Eighteen wanted to wait to tell her friends and family it was fine; people had recorded what had happened at the sports complex, but the various districts were practically different countries and there were not many chances that everyone in the Centre would see that video from the Southeast. In any case, he was dying to tell a friend, his best friend. The only one he had left, as Goku was dead. Bulma's cheerful face appeared on Krillin's screen.

-Hey Bul! We did it!- Krillin raised his hand to show the wedding ring in the video call, while Eighteen greeted timidly.

When the call ended, Krillin grabbed his wife's waist and carried her to the doors of their hotel, then up the stairs and across the threshold of their room; he had discreetly called the hotel before the ceremony, and now Eighteen was surprised by the rose petals on the floor, the soft light, the ambiance music and the towels on the bed, romantically folded in the shape of a heart.

-Krillin…- When Eighteen sat on the bed she felt once again the lump in her throat, but this time it was joy. Gratitude for being alive, there with him. Krillin pulled down her dress and discovered delicate white lingerie.

His wife looked like a cloud, light, halfway between heaven and earth.

He kissed her lips, distended in a smile, -Tell me, _Mrs Krillin._-

/

It was early morning in the RNP.

It was still dark when Leni arrived at her office and found herself faced with an inconvenient pile of hardened snow blocking the door. She tried to shovel it, but it had become a kind of thick layer of ice. She tried to melt it in the traditional Nordic way, pointing the exhaust smoke from her car at it.

There was a chance that Carly would leave without giving her a proper goodbye: Leni had a bitter taste in her mouth, the two of them were friends and things mustn't end that way. That thought made her lose patience with the ice.

After half an hour of revving she called John, "This is Leni; I'm stuck outside my office, send the kid to me. No, I don't care if he's been on patrol all night, nobody asked him. Hurry up!"

While she waited, Leni opened a text on her cell phone. It was a video, something that had almost gone viral those days: a young couple in a stadium, she asking for his hand.

Maron wasn't the only one who had recorded Krillin's and Eighteen's moment, it had eventually appeared online under the title:

_LIVE: Supermodel Proposes To Fighter Boyfriend_

"_Ah, poor darling...don't waste time on marriage, honey, it always ends in divorce. Look at me!" _

Leni knew that kind of thing still hurt her, yet she couldn't help but watch.

-What have you got there?-

The executive jumped when the help she had requested appeared without her noticing.

Instinctively she locked the screen, -N-nothing. The Internet.-

Leni looked quickly at the boy she must have just thrown out of bed: yes, he might have been on patrol all night but to Leni he looked fresh, hale and hearty, from his strong hands to the tips of his shiny hair.

He looked at her as if to ask if she wasn't capable of shovelling snow herself.

-It's too caked, I can't. Come on Seventeen, don't make me beg.-

-Sure; give me a firearms licence first.-

-Take the behavioural test, we've already talked about it.-

\- I have already taken it and I'm eligible, you told me yourself.-

Leni had never questioned Seventeen's exceptional skills and efficiency: he was always ready, he was extremely tough, his physique was prodigious and for him work was never enough.

Taking him aboard had been a winning move, but the law was the law: no ranger could shoot without warning, even when the poachers were caught in the act.

-That was before you started maiming poachers! And you even stole Lillian's rifle, so double infraction. I know you saved her and that's why we let it go, but leave the weapons alone: you have to follow the rules, whether you like it or not. It bothers you that _I_ am in charge and not a sweet guy like John, doesn't it? ... I'll tell you, without the nasty ones like me, everyone in here would do whatever they want. And don't cold shoulder me now!-

Leni suppressed her anger at seeing Seventeen snort with his usual nerve, his hands in his pockets. In his thoughts he was surely telling her to suck it.

But if John and others didn't have the guts to put a stop to his antics (as if they were afraid he'd eat them!) the brat didn't have _her _in his pocket, no...

-Then shovel the snow yourself,- Seventeen turned right around and gave Leni a kind of military salute.

Leni didn't want to fight; she turned the car back on and tried to finish watching the viral video.

It took her little a while to register that she was no longer holding the phone in her hand, -... Give it back! Get down from there!-

Seventeen cackled, sitting on the roof of Leni's small office;she had no idea how good he was at stealing items from the hands of assholes.

-What kind of videos are you watching, Leni? Holy shit... that's my si-

Seventeen shut his mouth, as if he didn't want to let the word escape.

Leni saw his mood change in the blink of an eye, as he watched that short video almost in shock.

Leni thought of the beautiful blonde girl running around the stadium and of the good smiling face of her new fiancé.

-... sister? Your sister? Praise the mother, then.-

-Given our physical resemblance, do you know you're paying a compliment to me too? Thank you.-

-...Bullshit.-

Seventeen left the roof and handed the cell phone back to Leni, -My sister is getting married and she hasn't told me... Yeah, better ditch me for a garden gnome named Gary, or Krillin, who cares.-

Seventeen's distaste for a suitor he didn't have the chance to disapprove of almost amused Leni, -Little sister, right?-

-Older. About an hour.-

-Ah...wow, are you a twin ?!- Leni gaped, -And you hate the fiance's guts because you imagine that when he fucks her he automatically fucks you too, because of twin telepathy or perversions of the kind?-

-... no, damn! Thanks for the nightmares.-

Leni was so distracted watching the video again; when she looked up she saw that the caked pile of snow had turned into a huge puddle, which was now wetting her feet: there was no longer any need to shovel.

She just said thanks: the praxis, by now, was to say _"Eh, it's Seventeen ..." _and not dwell on it.

-Anyway Seventeen I can't give you a firearms licence, but I think you already know that your contributions within the RNP are exceptional: I can already tell you that you are the _top ranger_. Tomorrow you can take the day off if you wish.-

He gave her no answer and took his leave with a nod.

Perfect, a day off would have been convenient: a trip to Satan City was all he needed.

/

Thoughts of the author:

Yoo-hoo! Krillin and Eighteen are married. Toriyama always lets us imagine what their wedding was like and I thought it was Eighteen who took charge of the situation. I enjoyed handling the wedding as a romantic getaway, with Eighteen not needing frills but not giving up on romance either. I also wanted to voice my thoughts on Krillin, a character that I see quite differently now as an adult, because he is the one who gave Eighteen a calm and probably full of love life. I love to write about how much they deserve each other! This was a "Lazuli-centric" chapter, we'll go back to Sev/Lapis on a grand scale the next chapter, whose title will be "Lillian".

Thanks to all of you for following me up to this twentieth chapter! You rock.


	21. Lillian

It was time to leave Satan City. Krillin's next tournament would be in January and as much as the newlyweds had enjoyed that mini moon in the nice hotel, they had to go home.

-I think July would be suitable, what do you think Krillin?-

Luggage was ready; check out was by ten.

-Sure, love. A nice summer party.-

Krillin felt bitter thinking that Son Goku would not be there for the renewal of their vows, the great big celebration with all their loved ones. Hearing a firm knock on the door drove away the sadness: Krillin expected to open to the hotel staff, but remained in the doorway with a light tachycardia, -... Eh-Eighteen!-

From the bathroom, Eighteen heard him almost whimper.

Krillin had already ascertained that the _I must break you _glare was not only a prerogative of Seventeen; yet, Krillin was much more fearful of him than of his mother or even his sister; perhaps because he being a man, Krillin wasn't distracted by his attractiveness and immediately perceived the danger.

-Hey there...Seventeen,- Krillin wavered; Seventeen smiled mischievously like the time he had made Krillin approach him just for the sake of scaring him.

-Thanks to you two, for your consideration.-

-You're welcome, bro.-

Eighteen appeared with her hair still wet, giving her brother a stern look. The viral video ... damn Internet.

-If you came here to be a dick, get out. How did you find me?-

At the exasperated raising of his eyebrow, Eighteen hoped that this time too Seventeen understood her reasons, without her having to explain everything to him. A series of coincidences had led them to take that kind of romantic getaway and they had gone with it.

-Now ... we'll be waiting for you for the party with friends and family next summer,- Krillin tried to be cordial and offered Seventeen a cup of tea.

The cyborg voluntarily tightened his grip and the sound of the china cracking made the warrior jump.

-Oops, my bad. Eh, I'll have to see ... I have a job, you know?-

Eighteen snorted. Kate had kept her informed, -Doing nothing in the forest, shooting poachers in the ass…-

-Yeah amen to that!- hWith a laugh, Seventeen stretched out on the bed and then stood up with a disgusted grimace. He figured what those two had done in that bed.

-The important thing is that you don't tell mum too. Not now.-

Speaking of the devil, Eighteen saw a video call request appear on her cell phone.

Kate was in the company of a man with glasses: _"Ronan, the twins, Lapis and Lazuli. Kids, my partner Ronan."_

Seventeen beautifully ignored Ronan and the role Kate had introduced him to them, -Hey ma. Eighteen got -

There was a general clamour from both sides of the screen when, live, Eighteen gave her brother a nasty elbow that took his breath away; Seventeen himself grunted and gasped as blood rose to his lips. Feeling sorry for his new brother in law, Krillin handed him a tissue: no doubt if Seventeen was stronger, Eighteen was more violent.

When the call was over, Ronan looked at his new partner in amazement. The temper of that _Kate in blonde _had upset him quite a bit, -But ... do they always do that?-

Kate no longer cared about the tantrums of her cyborg children, -Sometimes.-

Ronan was also amazed at how she could keep so calm. It must have been the force of habit.

-I hope he will be okay; sure the dragon has two heads?-

/

The afternoon of October 31st marked the end of Carly's tenure in the RNP.

The bags had been loaded, Lillian was leaning against the bonnet, looking at her best friend with puppy eyes, -Remember to say goodbye to Leni.-

She and Carly had already said their big goodbyes, but there was still something Carly wanted to say, -In the end, do you like your colleague?-

-What do I know. He's got a great ass.-

_Oh, Lillian ..._

If Carly were the guy who had literally taken bullets for her, she would have been offended.

-And not only that; even the eyes are nice.-

Carly naturally turned her head to the Great Eden, but with discretion, almost as if she were reproaching herself, -Yes, I figure. Better focus on the ass, at least it's not a vision that will come back to haunt you.-

-But listen, it's not love! I'm just saying I'd smash that, I'm not in a hurry.-

-Instead you should; if you like someone, don't waste your time, some occasions only happen once and life goes away fast.-

Carly was on fire, her see-through skin tone showed that. Lillian didn't know if that sensible speech was about Joel rather than Seventeen.

Watching Apartment 36B empty of Carly's things had stressed Lillian out, she would have felt so alone without her, -Make sure you do well in the university. I want you back here soon.-

-We'll call often, you might as well come and see me on campus.-

The girls hugged tightly in the small square of Viey.

Driving off in the direction of North City and holding back her melancholy, Carly watched from the rear view mirror Lillian and the village get smaller and smaller, until they disappeared from the winding road framed by snowy pines.

/

The flat now felt empty and cold; Lillian's mood was terribly low: she cried sobbing, punching her pillow.

Hyperactivity had not been her only diagnosis, she had also been told that she was expected to develop codependency; with a job as intense as hers the urge to move had improved markedly, but Joel had been the latest in a series of short relationships ended badly. When Joel had ended their new relationship, feeling smothered, Lillian had realised that no one wanted to put up with her problems. She had tried to keep herself in check with Carly, with whom she had immediately hit it off, for fear of pushing her away. Carly was the perfect friend Lillian had never had, and now her absence frustrated her more than ever.

But Lillian reckoned she couldn't get over her problems if she always refused to take a stand against them. She felt calmer after listening to music and taking a shower.

Brent had a purpose, after all, he was the soul of the party. He was also funny and eclectic, he was kind: he would have _never _treated her like Joel had done, nor was he sassy-bordering-on-rude like Seventeen.

But Lillian was too complicated to care about simple good guys, she had to be to Brent what Joel was to her. Who knows if she had hurt him, all the times she had rudely turned down his invitations to reenactment events.

Two weeks ago Brent had told her that for Halloween he would have hosted a night of booze and games at his flat in Saint-Paul. Sure, it wasn't as exciting as jumping from the Viey tower, but it was still better than being alone. Indeed, Lillian really wanted to fight apathy by putting a lot of effort into preparing. What a pity that Carly had left! She would have more fun with her, perhaps.

Lillian didn't regret not having borrowed a costume from the samples Brent had sewn over the years; when she got interested the only one left was _the nun. _

Instead, she would have been _the witch _and intended to wear some pieces from her goth phase, exhumed for the occasion: a black flounced short skirt, a corset with black and purple bows that gave her a discreet cleavage, knee-high boots, black stockings and a black suspender belt, it was too cold for fishnet tights. At ten in the evening it was the dead of night; Lillian took the first jacket that came handy, jumped in her car and drove to Saint-Paul in the snow.

/

Brent opened the door dressed as a dead musketeer, complete with a rusty sword, black eyes and a fake unkempt dramatic moustache. -Hubba hu...cool! Lillian is here.-

Lillian laughed to see his jaw metaphorically drop to the landing, his eyes fixed on the central part of her corset.

-… Is _Jessica Rabbit _also there _? _-

-Left today.-

Among the revelers Lillian recognised John and Louisa, Leni, Joel, Bronwyn and Elliott, the paleontologist roommate.

It didn't take her long to realise that the drinks sucked; she sat drinking quietly on a sofa placed under an exposed beam, watching the people chatting and feasting. -Where's Sev?-

Lillian screamed and nearly spilled her drink as a figure wrapped in a black cloak materialized at her side; he was upside down, holding on to the beam with his feet like a giant bat.

-Shit! You scared me.-

-That was the purpose.-

Lillian didn't know according to what principle of physics Seventeen could hang like that; when he got down and sat with her, Lillian looked at the sleek black pants and puff-sleeved shirt, -Are you a dead musketeer too?-

-Come on, no! I'm Dracula.- He made a dramatic gesture with his wide red-lined cloak and his hair he hadn't cut in a long time; it now fell past his collar.

-The other option I had left was the nun...and you aren't the locomotive, what a shame.-

-Guys, just don't slay each other tonight.- Brent was worried, but these two hardly interacted lately. Seventeen didn't even provoke her, and Lillian didn't blame him for anything.

Brent almost preferred them at each other's throats.

Seventeen wasn't even thinking _Lillian or Carly? _: one was just a fling and the other was a closed chapter. He didn't have to reopen it, it would have been painful for everyone. 

/

Around midnight Brent proposed to play an alcoholic version of a naming game but the more the night progressed, the drunker he and Leni were, spending more time with their tongues in each other's mouths than playing.

-Names with L ... Lillian!- Brent earned an eloquent look from Leni when he didn't say her name -Lillian I love yoooouuuuuu!-

Lillian heard him howl in unison with the loud music, _"Let's see without all that alcohol in your body ..."_

Bronwyn was still holding the ball with the letter L in her hand. -Come on, people! Other names with L.-

A little later Lillian was sitting next to Seventeen; he absently leafed through a book he had fished around.

-Black&white suits you.-

-I know.-

Ever since they'd had that interminable date and Bronwyn had only spouted out insults for Lillian, Seventeen had branded her as a rabid bitch. So he wasn't surprised when Bronwyn raised her head haughtily at seeing Lillian pass by, and making sure everyone heard her screamed, -Some people just wait for Halloween to whore! I mean, there's no need to dress like a hooker!-

A general murmur vibrated in the room: _"Uuuuh ..."_

Seventeen took half a second to register Lillian's gaze which, before showing pride, had looked undeniably sad to him, -Instead you came as a plain jane, it suits you.-

The whole hall exploded with a roar: _"Aaawww ouch!"_

Bronwyn squeaked in anger; she looked like a chihuahua growling at a husky.

By now Leni and Brent had disappeared from the large living room. Dracula ended up chatting with the witch, while many people danced and poured spirits on themselves.

-What are you reading?- Lillian took the book from him.

_Sailing for Beginners. _What was the use of a sailing manual in the Royal Nature Park?

-I can't sail. All culture.-

Lillian peered at the back of the cover, -Wait ... I know Malina Klintsov-Samuels!-

-Who?-

She showed him the photo of the author, -She wrote this book, she's badass...I talked to her on Skype, I'll tell you another time, maybe you're interested too.-

Seventeen put the book away and sighed, looking down at perhaps his twentieth can of beer. It was his first binge drinking as a cyborg: -Man I really don't want it ... it tastes abominable.-

-So stop drinking, your stomach lining will thank you. One doesn't necessarily have to get drunk at a party: for example, I'm here to spend a nice evening with my colleagues.-

She grabbed his marble-firm buttock and squeezed it in her hand; Seventeen patted her so hard that she staggered backward.

-You idiot! You hurt me.-

He had hit her without noticing, with no intention of hurting her. But remembering that normal humans _broke_, he got some anxiety, -I didn't mean to.-

His was simple sincerity, the seriousness of a child in trouble. Lillian, who hadn't had peace since that time in the hospital, thought about life being too short. Maybe they could start from there? She waited for him to finish his beer and took heart; the fact that they had already kissed unfortunately didn't help… She grabbed the _top ranger _by the shoulders and pulled him in her direction, without him resisting. Well, she almost figured Seventeen would punch her to let her know he didn't appreciate all that physical proximity. Instead, Lillian was beginning to dream as he approached too, his hands set firmly on the dimples on her lower back. Lillian hated herself for a moment for thinking _the unspeakable_, the one thing that went against _everything_ she was and she believed in: that the cupcake was right, that kid's brute strength could be so, _so _exciting. Not because Lillian liked S&M, but for the simple fact that she was used to being the one with "male strength".

Now she wanted to try Seventeen, a guy with real might; he could do anything ...

Still lost in her rosy thoughts Lillian stood there, lips parted, barely noticing that at the last moment he had turned around. She fell with her face on Seventeen's chest: his skin felt hot and his muscles were firm through the light fabric of his shirt...

She glanced up at the top ranger, as he put a hand over his mouth and let out a resounding belch that forced Lillian back to Earth once and for all; obviously, who else should she expect that from?

-Goddammit! To my face! How dare you, you rude, gross, vulgar,-

In the end it was always Seventeen, a first-rate shameless boor who never missed a chance to make fun of her; she would gladly leave him to Bronwyn, they deserved each other.

In fact, Seventeen wasn't even wondering if he had killed the mood; Lillian's indignation amused him a great deal, -Gimme a break, it's the beer. And I also have flaws.-

-Where do I begin?- Lillian muttered, -Being as classy as a docker, for instance. No inhibitions, no manners.-

-_Classy as a docker_, why is that?-, Seventeen asked her, intrigued; a tad annoyed by the quantity of alcohol he had downed, he walked away to belch in peace.

-Jeez, stop it!-

-Ah man, sorry about that.-

Lillian shrugged, deflated. -That's okay...-

Seventeen was anything but sorry: _manners schmanners_, boozy nights were boozy nights even if Lillian didn't seem to be on the same page. -One must have strong principles in life, or not? Tell me, Lill, what would life be without principles.-

He was the _drunken philosopher, _then.

-Oh wow Sev you got some great principles! I'm cracking up.-

-I know, right?- he chortled. -Better than having your head cracked in a shooting.-

Ever since those poachers had pointed their guns at them and Seventeen had thrown himself at her to protect her, Lillian could no longer feel hatred towards him, even if it bothered her that he had taken the title of top ranger from her. It wasn't official yet, but everyone already recognized him as such. She wondered if he'd protected her for the same reason why later, in the hospital…

But Seventeen probably would have done the same for Brent if he'd been standing next to him instead of her.

Meanwhile everyone was trying to spy through the keyhole of Elliott's room, where Brent and Leni had holed up.

-No come on, I have no words. What are you making me do…- John, who was to be the authority in there, stepped away haughtily from the bedroom door.

-Nothing but a meeting of wives, this is. Speaking for my rangers, you should be the _tough guys _here.-

-And I always am,- Lillian said, -but this _tough guy _is cold now, so she'll go get the jacket she left in the car.-

She wanted to give Joel one last chance, exchanging a knowing look with him as she walked out of the large Brent-Sev-Elliott flat.

In response Joel found that the door of Elliott's bedroom wasn't even locked; so that when everyone walked in, they saw that Brent and Leni were so drunk they hadn't made it to the bed. They were snoring gracelessly, lying on the floor.

/

Lillian shivered as she got into the car and pulled her jacket over her corset; she waited for a while but in the end, already feeling tired, she was about to start the jeep. It was past 2 am. In the nick of time she heard a knock on a window; about time, Joel had finally made up his mind and stopped spying on Brent and Leni.

But as Lillian rolled down the window, she saw two strikingly blue eyes that did certainly not belong to Joel; they glowed even in the darkness of the parking lot.

Lillian sighed, -What's up Sev.-

-I haven't seen you since. Are you all right?-

Lillian was GOLDEN: theoretically she wanted to stay and perhaps make things clear with Joel, on whom she had wasted a year of back and forth only to find that that idiot didn't give a damn, to the point of preferring to watch two drunkards do it rather than do it with her. Thinking about Joel and all the tears she'd shed because of his indifference made Lillian angry:

_"That fool keeps wussing, but then when his urges call he comes to me to dump his waste ...that lousy pig!"_

-Wait a minute: car sex, are you sure? I tell you it's not that exciting.-

Lillian didn't know whether Seventeen was a born prick or if he did it on purpose; but she had already had enough of him that evening, she was too tired even to insult him. -All you got from my serious talk is this, attaboy... anyway my bestie too says it's uncomfortable.-

-If you pick wankers with lifelong problems it's your fault only. And your bestie knows what she says.-

Seventeen didn't tell her that he had some distant memory of romantic evenings in his red-hot car, perhaps with the red-hot girl. Seventeen didn't think of Lillian in those terms; it wasn't worth it to dive head first into something concrete with her, in the end she didn't move all the right chords.

He knew that the strength of his true feelings had not been tarnished by the conversion in cyborg, not even when he had woken up in the lab he had been apathetic. The lust for Gero's blood, Cell with his terror and the reunion with Kate had shown Seventeen the power of instinct and extreme sensations.

Thinking about Carly felt almost like that: she was woven into his memory, it was instinctive for him to evoke her and get excited, plunging into that overwhelming and magnificent feeling that with its greatness wore him down.

_Carly _was pure impulse. _Deep instinct_.

On the contrary Lillian, to whom Seventeen felt nonetheless attracted, could allow him to keep the human side linked to the attraction without feeling the flood of experiences, instincts and emotions that _Carly_ carried with her.

Lillian was _light instincts _; it wasn't a bad thing. He was sure of Lillian's _lightness _until the moment she got out of the jeep and enveloped him with a heady and painful scent.

The first sensation to appear in Seventeen was a backlash in his blood that paralyzed him. Then it made his heart sink and for a moment he didn't breathe.

-Well? Why are you staring at me?-

Without thinking Seventeen found himself holding Lillian greedily against his chest, squeezing her until she groaned in pain and begged him to let go.

But that scent of hers - how could he have never smelled it before? - drove him crazy, invading his head and making him shake from head to toe. He felt that it was _home_. Still not caring about anything else around him, with his eyes closed Seventeen buried his nose in the hollow of Lillian's shoulder.

Pleasantly surprised, Lillian laughed and moaned as she felt him gripping her hips and lifting her. Seventeen snapped his lips open and closed them over Lillian's; he hoisted her effortlessly onto the roof of the car and in an instant he was completely sprawled over her, once again exchanging deep kisses with her. The cyborg groped for every inch of the human's skin, his erect penis pressing against her.

Lillian unbuttoned his immaculate shirt, the only divider between her undone corset and Seventeen's body. He couldn't drag it out: he undid his trousers and almost arrogantly lifted Lillian's skirt under, her longing gaze.

-Be gentle…- She spoke in a whisper, but was ignored.

Lillian gave a small high-pitched scream and held her breath as Seventeen hurried to penetrate her. The first thrust was strong and sudden, Lillian's body twitched with desire; the stitches in her shoulder had popped open when he had pinned her to the hard metal of the jeep, but for now she felt no pain. Lillian folded her legs and opened her eyes to also enjoy the sight of her nemesis's broad, muscular chest, of his angular features and his eyes.

Oh, the eyes!

She had imagined it would be intense, exciting, but _hot damn!_

Seventeen vented out of control, indulging his impulse, no matter how light or deep: he _must _satisfy a ravenous appetite, and she was a meal to be consumed quickly. He was lost in a dimension from which he could not hear his own grunts, nor Lillian moan again and again. He only knew what his body wanted. The more he vented, the more he needed to vent, letting himself be carried away by a cocktail of physical sensations he didn't remember having ever experienced _before _. When he came to the end of his gallop and the inner turmoil cleared out of him, he held his friend's body and let out a long sigh. He continued to lie on top of her. 

Still fresh from orgasm, Lillian remained to graze Seventeen's back and shoulders, to observe his now fleeting eyes, -It's strange, isn't it?-

-Very strange.-

-And if you're thinking about it, it's too late now.-

Those words also applied to her: they had thrown the concept of protection out the window, Lillian had never done it that way. She knew her body well enough not to be too alarmed, but that was a reason to be mad at him, perhaps the only serious reason Seventeen had ever given her! He had completely disregarded her...

However, there seemed to be more tangles to unravel at the time. Seventeen sat aside, brooding and perplexed; Lillian's face and body were so sadly new, but her scent was heaven. He could not wrap his head around it, -I couldn't think with my head …-

-Don't worry, I know what you reasoned with.-

For a moment Lillian had reminded him of something. Lillian, that girl who was there to make him start over if he wanted to. Her hair was red too, but Seventeen also knew it was _the scent _that had bewitched him. A scent that he could, inexplicably, smell less and less on her.

-You have a girlfriend, don't you? I can't believe it …-

Lillian was a total idiot, she had let herself be deluded once again.

-Not anymore.-

For some strange reason, Lillian knew it was true: Seventeen was like an open book right now. Whatever the reason behind his hesitation, maybe it was for the best. Maybe the universe was telling her that she had definitely crossed the line with him.

As they rearranged themselves onto the roof of the car, the adrenaline still running through their bodies but also so much shyness now separating them, Lillian thought that Seventeen wasn't all that bad. His arrogant attitude didn't help, but maybe he didn't deserve all her nervousness. Her jealousy had clouded her judgment, in the end _the mascot _hadn't disrespected her; unlike Joel.

Perhaps, if Lillian had stopped being so touchy, Seventeen too would have found her more agreeable and therefore less of a target. That evening, after Joel's last insult, Lillian forced herself to stop hanging on his lips and, in contrast, to stop hating Seventeen. She therefore found the time to breach a topic with him:

-At least there is a hint of decency in you: you already humiliate me at work, if you also use me as to empty your balls…-

-How poetic. Then you call _me _gross.-

-You are gross.-

-Anyway I don't give a damn about humiliating you.-

-Instead you still do it.-

Seventeen listened to Lillian make a list of the things she did not understand about him: how he could work so hard without it affecting his body, how he could jump all over the place, touch stinging insects, move boulders without problems and gulp down alcohol in massive doses without even puking.

How he could throw himself in the way of large calibre bullets and walk out of it unscathed.

If Lillian were Carly, Seventeen would have told her. Because he knew that in the end, his desire for Carly was far stronger than he had reckoned. He could also persist in relegating her to a melancholy past, but he _missed_ her. She was indelible.

If Lillian were Carly and she were there with him right now, Seventeen would have told the whole truth about his nature, he would have fully exposed himself, never to allow himself to let her go again.

But Lillian wasn't Carly: he didn't _want_ her. Even if for a moment, for a poignant and inexplicable moment, he had believed it was her. And even if the sight of her breasts, uncovered by the still undone corset, did not leave him indifferent, -I keep fit, that's all.-

Lillian had taken off her jacket due to sudden hot flushes; she turned it around in her hands. She saw her shoulder all bloody, it started to ache again.

-You lout... Look what you've done!-

Seventeen caught another whiff of_ the scent _and hurled himself at Lillian again. She screamed when he, excited once again, cut her lip with a bite. _"He and his mini fangs."_

Seventeen ignored Lillian's righteous protests, snatched the garment from her hands and poked his nose into it. She watched him sniff her jacket, perplexed:

-Stop it, you look like a maniac.-

-Where did you get this.-

-I don't know! Online?-

Seventeen's gaze grew harder, he seemed ready to give her a cruel interrogation. Lillian felt overwhelmed by fear: at that moment the sly brat seemed dangerous, according to an innate awareness that she could not justify.

She preferred not to brood:

-Because of you I'll need more stitches and my lip will swell ... We were saying, don't take me for a fool: you came here and you got the drop on me because you are _strong_. Don't deny it, come on.-

Seventeen blew away a piece of his hair, -I'm not just _strong_, and comparing yourself to me is not what you should aspire to. You can't be me, for better or for worse.-

-Ah, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. You are really on another level and you make me feel very mediocre, ordinary. I didn't take it well …-

Her point of pride had always been to be stronger than any other guy she had met, to be able to knock out those who mocked her for her _non-feminine body _and strength. -And then you do whatever you please without caring, you're not scared of anything.-

-You're out of line; I hate it when you assume certain things about me. Of course I'm scared! I'm scared of many things.-

Seventeen was very jealous of his "natural feelings": it was normal to be afraid. Knowing that he was afraid of something like anyone else was another detail that added normalcy to his life.

-Which things?-

He was caught by surprise, -...Holes, burrows, narrow tunnels.-

When he had fished that little girl out at the basalt quarries he had panicked, he had felt a lump in his throat. -And sometimes I'm afraid of life, like everyone else. I can't recover some _things _I lost, and the only path for me is forward. If I think about it, it's a bloody nightmare.-

The nightmare he had no control over was the fact that if being a cyborg opened many doors for him, it closed just as many.

-You're opening up to me ... you must be dead drunk.-

-I can't get drunk.-

Lillian knew he meant _people _by _things _. If he was missing someone, why didn't he reconnect?

-Easier said.-

-So you're a coward. A piece of advice: you can't keep it all inside. I've been working closely with you for these months and you act like you can't count on anyone, neither for work nor for life. I had understood that going underground was a problem for you, but you didn't even let yourself be helped! You probably thought it wouldn't be worth it, since you know very well that nobody is _you _. You always do it all by yourself, keeping people away because you already think they won't get you, so you don't want to waste your time. Am I right?-

Non-verbally, he said yes. For Lillian, Seventeen met the grandiose definition of the incredibly perceptive Carly: _fake extrovert _.

Just like her. -Believe me, I understand. Sometimes it happens to me too.-

-You don't know what you're talking about,- he grunted.

-What if I knew part of it? Missing something without knowing clearly what it is that you're missing; the eternal sense of dissatisfaction, the need to let off steam and feel yourself exploding if you don't burn that energy; having to constantly keep your hands busy. You say that I know you only superficially and you're right: I feel you are similar to me but at the same time I cannot figure you out ... I would like to do it, I would like to understand who you are. You told me about principles, let me tell you one too: what would life be like without friends, huh? Being _lonely _doesn't have to mean being _on your own_. -

Seventeen realised how alone he was. He had no one but his family and Sixteen. Would it have been so bad to have another friend? He knew he should stop making excuses: his family had already shown him that what had been done to him was not irreversible, that he could choose to be a person and not something made to kill. Everyone had friends. Accepting a few wouldn't hurt, on the contrary, it would have distracted him and it would have been another kick in the ass for Gero.

Besides, if he and Lillian weren't already friends in word they were in fact: when she was shot he had been mad at those people, he had killed for her; he had wanted to prevent her from getting hurt. He had thought it would be stupid to let a vulnerable creature die in before his eyes, while those bullets wouldn't make a difference to him.

And in light of that discussion with Lillian, it struck him now how he cared about the safety of his colleagues. Yes, along with Brent, Lillian could be a friend.

-Imagine that...I had to come to sex to learn something serious about you.-

Seventeen was only a year younger than her, but Lillian always saw him as a youngster. And in that moment, seeing his cheeks turn a shade redder, she almost felt tenderness, -But well, no sweat; now let's forget about the sex and let's start being two people who understand and support each other ... I'm tired of feeling nervous at work. Friends?-

With one of his trademark smiles, Seventeen approached Lillian, playfully, as if to search for her lips. He shook her hand. -Okay, friends. But don't think I'll stop being myself just because we're friends.-

/

Alone in the car again, Lillian reckoned that she had to go and have her wound stitched up again. It was 5 in the morning and the closest clinic, the one in Verny, would open at 7.30. Perfect, there would be time for the shower and the snack she needed. Glancing at the large floral pattern on the jacket, she suddenly realised it wasn't hers. It was too pretty to be hers.

_"Check this out. It didn't even fit too loose on the chest."_

She felt embarrassed to think of the moment when she would have to return it, torn here and there and stained with blood. Lillian hadn't noticed when she had taken it out of the closet, but that jacket had been forgotten in Viey.

It belonged to Carly.

Thoughts of the author:

Ooookaay😅

Lillian's a great friend, though!

And if there was a counter going "ding!" everytime Seventeen did something silly in this chapter, it would break.


	22. A Thief in the Kitchen

Celebration was in the air at the police station on the outskirts of Central City.

Perhaps at that time of year even the criminals had better things to do, and with the Commando Magenta defeated the officers seemed to have almost an easy life.

It had been a year of wonders, between the _Cell situation_, its conclusion and finally the liberation from Cloe Mafia. Everything fell under the same category: unexplained events, open cases that would always remain so.

During that holiday period the policemen chatted and listened to the radio:

_"... and that is why the North governor is seriously considering naming it one of the safest places in the world." _

_"It's a miracle of nature!" _

_"There are no longer many disasters, like in the olden days..." _

-Which place are they talking about?- Bruno took an excerpt from a debate discussed with a Northern accent and asked Lieutenant Glassier, his desk neighbour. Glassier often listened to the _Antenna Verny _station, it kept him informed of his distant homeland.

-A Northern region. Listen, Captain.-

Many voices overlapped in the broadcast:

_"It's a world record!" _

_"Indeed! Hear the numbers: EIGHTY avalanches have fallen from the mountains in the Greater Eden range since October, but the _Royal Nature Park _has not registered any casualties. This is the official press release from the governor of the North and so I tell you all, go and spend a nice New Year in the mountains!" _

Glassier listened, scratching his mustache:

-This is crazy. Ever since the world began, the mountains are spectacular but accidents have always happened, word of a man from the North.-

Bruno heard the radio inform listeners that the roads within the _RNP _had hardly ever frozen over since the beginning of the cold season.

-They must have exceptional salt spreaders,- the Captain commented skeptically.

_"Even poaching is cut to the bone." _

_"It's a miracle of the law!"_

_"Central City assures that if such a situation lasts over time, the King will award the RNP security chief, John Dubochet, with a medal." _

-What? Us?- Bruno had not heard this piece of news before. He hurried to search the Internet and saw that what _Antenna Verny _was boasting was true.

Winter blizzards had come and dusted even the district of the world capital. Bruno had to hurry to get home before the snow completely froze on the roads. Unfortunately for him, they didn't have amazing salt spreaders like in the North...

-Where are you going, Captain Weiss?-

-What about you, Sixteen? Let's go home, the girls are waiting for us: we're celebrating Christmas tonight, remember? Amelia will want to play with you while Sara and I finish cooking.-

Sixteen had discovered that _Christmas _was a holiday. There in the Centre most humans celebrated primarily being together with loved ones, exchanging gifts, and so on. If it had depended on Sixteen he would have lived in the streets, he didn't need to eat or wash, but he had grown fond of Bruno's family from the time they had come to see him and he had met them. The young mother of his child was very friendly and, in need of occasional help, she had accepted the captain's proposal, bringing Sixteen home. He was probably homeless and seemed like a good person.

Moreover, Bruno trusted him enough to entrust him with the job of bodyguard for his family. Since Cloe Mafia had sent her henchpeople to have Sara and Amelia killed, Bruno had wanted someone solid to protect them, he no longer wanted any malicious person to approach his house. Strong Sixteen seemed to suit him.

_"Why are you never hungry, dear Sixteen?" _Sara had worried.

_"I am an android. I have no needs like yours" _repeated the gentle giant.

The culture of the Centre was such that everyone tended to mind their own business (which also explained the loss of contact between Kate and the Der Veers). So the Weisses took him at his word and never talked about it again. Sixteen was accompanying the Captain out of the station when Bruno had second thoughts:

-Well, maybe we have been inconsiderate with you. You don't have to sit Amelia tonight: if you have a family to visit, go ahead and do so.-

His family was probably scattered around the world. He only knew where _part _of it was. _The other part_, Sixteen had lost his coordinates after the two of them had parted in the North. Taking advantage of the quiet afternoon at the police station, Sixteen decided to try that new human habit and pay a visit to Eighteen at the Kame House.

He had found Eighteen's eyes calmer than usual, when she had opened the door for him

Life with Krillin seemed to be good for her. Inexperienced in the field of gifts but remembering Eighteen's passion for fashion, he had put some nicely-made wooden hangers in her hands. She was busy finishing the preparations in the living room of the house, along with a floating blue cat and a talking pig that came and went from the kitchen; even if she didn't chat with them, Eighteen was smiling. It gave joy to Sixteen to see her smile in a contained, but true and spontaneous way. In that moment, she seemed made to live a simple and intimate life like that; she had had to wait for Krillin to realise it. To Sixteen it even seemed that she didn't realise something else; even if her eyes seemed more alive than ever there was something in Eighteen, something _strange _that the android could hardly identify. It wasn't her power, that seemed as irrepressible to him as he remembered, it wasn't even her naturally diaphanous skin; Sixteen sensed a secret languor in her, a _vulnerability _that Eighteen herself still ignored. The android attributed these subtleties to her new, totally human lifestyle: he believed the cyborg girl when she assured him she was fine.

/

That had been in December.

December had now passed and life at the Kame House had continued serenely, amidst the quarrels of the tenants and the silent, romantic raids of the newlyweds.

When the two of them had returned to the Kame House, the others had welcomed them back with a little surprise party.

Good news travels fast; at that point, Eighteen no longer even hoped that Kate hadn't viewed the video.

The month of January passed slowly and quietly on Turtle Island.

-July, then. It's not that far; we have to hurry and at least send out the invitations.-

Roshi's wi-fi also caught the beach, the office from which Krillin and Eighteen used to organise the renewal of their vows, day by day.

Krillin was delighted to observe that, using two laptops simultaneously, Eighteen had completed the layout of the invitations with her right hand and was scrolling through various web pages with her left, without missing a word. Now that she had to organise a real party, Eighteen didn't know where to start. She had also made appointments to try on wedding dresses. According to the internet, a _real wedding dress _was not an everyday thing: she should have brought along someone to give her an opinion. Only Kate came to mind, although Krillin suggested that she also invite Bulma and Chi-Chi, Son Goku's widow. They were very old friends and by now Eighteen and Krillin were a family.

_"We'll see: it's my wedding and I'll decide what to wear." _

It didn't look to Krillin like Eighteen was reading, but her brain and enhanced eyes were grinding articles over articles, blogs over blogs, and even wedding dress fitting videos in record time. -Have you thought about your bridesmaids?-

Oh yeah, the handful of wives responsible for getting her drunk at the _hen do _and keeping her flawless on the designated day.

_"Maybe Sara. She's my only friend, after all." _

Krillin hoped that Eighteen would also choose Bulma ... A few metres away from them, Turtle appreciated the absence of tourists in his sea and allowed himself long swims, sometimes followed by Eighteen. Like Turtle, she too sought some solitude and the ocean bed was perfect. She could see even down there, it almost seemed to her not to be on the same planet where she was born and raised.

January also saw the appearance of a mysterious thief. Various inhabitants of the house complained when, opening pantries and refrigerators, they did not find what they looked for.

The most afflicted was Oolong, _"How can I now bake muffins if they ate my blueberries?" _

"… _He also took my protein shake. And my yogurts. " _Puar, the _floating cat _, looked at Yamcha's astonished face and laughed under his whisker.

_"At least no one will take my cat food." _

Then, when they least expected it, they would find full pantries and refrigerators, as if the thief had wanted to borrow and then pay back. Coincidentally, this restock almost always took place after Krillin and Eighteen returned from their walks into town. They were often around to visit venues for the party, and also took care of the shopping. Cornered by the other tenants, Krillin had sworn his innocence.

-And leave my boy alone! He must regain his strength, with all the energy he spends when we sleep,- Roshi winked at Krillin from behind his sunglasses, raising both eyebrows as if to say _a word to the wise._

-But I'm not the thief …-

Secretly the residents, except Krillin, thought about asking for support from the only person in the house that no one could blame: Eighteen. That woman only drank and she was not indictable, especially at that time when her health seemed poor by her standards; she had claimed one of the bathrooms in the house all for herself, glaring at anyone who had dared to object. The occupants of the house always wanted to go talk to her, promising to pay for her if she put a stop to that absurd display of disloyalty among mates.

Her gaze, however, always dissuaded them. Meanwhile, the thefts did not stop; the thief was not very selective, it just seemed that he was getting fits of hunger, especially at night, and that whatever he could get his hands on was fine:

-My blackcurrant preserve ... I had saved it for our Sunday roast!- Oolong didn't even want to waste his time more cooking for that gang of scoundrels, -Yamcha, you hog, I know it was you.-

-Not me!-

Master Roshi, owner of the house, tolerated those quarrels among the tenants even less than having to share the bathroom with all of them. He too came up with the brilliant idea of setting a deterrent: precisely that deterrent with undisputed authority, complete with lithe physique and _femme fatale _eyes_. _He was the only one who had the guts to make that request.

-Eighteen, dear, listen to me. If you watch the house and bring the guilty to me, I'll give you zeni.-

Eighteen could say she _loathed _theKame House. But zeni, those did not make her twist her nose. -How many.-

-A good amount.-

There was a certain designer handbag she wanted to put her clutches on; cost, 604,000 zeni.

-Not a penny more, not a penny less, Roshi. Otherwise, I'm out.-

-Eh _otherwise _and _otherwise _, there are also other ways in which an old bachelor like me, with my _savoir faire _and experience could repay you,- Roshi chuckled, not surprised at the grimace in which the cyborg's beautiful face twisted.

-Tch. Your kind makes me sick.-

Roshi wondered whether the insult was referring to him being a human or an old perv; but no, it wasn't a metaphor, he seriously sickened her!

-Hey, no no no dear, wait!- The geezer hastened to escort the young woman out of her room when she, gripped by persistent dry-heaving, threatened to redo the carpet in his room.

Roshi was rather stunned: many girls he had made salacious jokes to had found him _revolting_, but NEVER literally. Well in the end, what did he know about what cyborgs like…

/

Even though she had lived with Kate before going to find Krillin, living in a house full of fragile creatures was always a new experience for Eighteen. Intrigued by their routines, she had tried to imitate them even before marriage, fascinated by the air of peaceful normalcy they conveyed to her. The only thing she had never done was eating with them. When Krillin and the others gathered at the table she joined them out of courtesy, but she didn't touch anything. Only lately, when she got hungry at the sight of the set table, did she just take little bites.

That one was going to be a good year, she would have started it as Krillin's wife; the thought had her wake up with a smile many times, including one morning in January when she was awakened by a delicious scent. Krillin was still sleeping, in a starfish position; without waking him Eighteen slipped out of bed and went down to the kitchen. She recognized the unmistakable aroma of butter sizzling in the pan and saw some pancakes stacked on a plate. The recently used pan was still hot. Without thinking about it, Eighteen sat down on the work surface and took a couple of pancakes, in the privacy of the sleeping house; she then proceeded to clean the whole plate, making herself comfortable and studying the comings and goings of the dark sea outside the window. She had eaten more than she had ever done since she was converted and wanted to enjoy her satiety for as long as it would last. She watched the waves advance and retreat for a while, pleased to see that at least for that morning appeasing her new, pressing need for solid food would not be an attack on her ill-used stomach.

_"Empty belly life..." _

Unlike when she limited himself to drinking, with real food Eighteen could never be completely satisfied; the pleasant sensation of being full lasted in fact a few minutes. Then she felt total emptiness and she had to eat again. It was a loop, a totally new problem for Eighteen. Now she understood when her brother seemed ravenous and started to annoy her because he needed to eat...

-Finally you too have surrendered to my kitchen.-

The girl turned suddenly; she saw Oolong in the doorway staring at her with a smile on his snout. -I had prepared breakfast for everyone but don't worry, I'll make more.-

The pig added the footnote as he saw the cyborg's nonexistent eyebrows curl. -Do more. Now.-

-Yes Ma'am!-

Oolong went back to the stove under Eighteen's peremptory and impatient gaze. In the end he was happy to do something that girl appreciated. When Roshi and Turtle also woke up and went to the kitchen, they were stunned to see the ice queen eat.

/

Krillin was in tournaments again and in his free time he trained against his wife. It was good training for Eighteen too, not one of strength but of finesse: when she fought Krillin, Eighteen trained to dose her power. Usually he struggled all the same, she was still clearly superior in both strength and speed. Krillin and Eighteen trained intensively from morning to night, but it was above all fun; Eighteen wanted to believe her husband when he told her that she too, having originally been a human, could become stronger with training. She understood why Krillin had made martial arts his job: it was a satisfaction to be able to do what only a few other Earthlings (and aliens) mastered. Counting that Son Gohan was half Saiyan, no Earthling other than Krillin and Roshi could perform the _kamehameha_, not even the crystalline-eyed twin cyborgs. Maybe it would be a good career for her too, it would allow her to take advantage of her enhanced body. The area in which Krillin still beat her was technique: Eighteen did not have a real fighting style, she was just a former gangster who overnight had found herself wielding tremendous power. But she would soon turn the page; maybe she too would make a name for herself sooner or later. Eighteen had been thinking about it from the time she had crossed paths with Maron, that stupid ex, and now the idea was taking root. But lately Eighteen was not satisfied with her performance: if someone had watched her fight they probably wouldn't have noticed any differences, but she felt weak. She was the only creature in the world, along with Seventeen, possessing infinite energy; however she couldn't feel further from that definition.

She became convinced that something was wrong and the conviction was finally communicated that time when her husband was teaching her a new technique: create a disk of energy as sharp as a blade from the palm of her hand.

It was the _Destructo Disk_, his signature move. Eighteen had liked it a lot since she'd seen Krillin do it. She had admired him even more when his friends told her it was an attack designed entirely by him. She felt proud of him. Loving, creative, fair, courageous: the strongest "pure" human in the world, her husband, was truly the man for her. Life kept showing her.

That time Krillin would only appear on the ring in the late afternoon and had taken a moment to train with her; he was about to show her how to perform the right gestures for the _Destructo Disk_, but he stopped when Eighteen asked him for time-out, knelt on the floor and threw up.

Krillin felt so sorry every time his beloved was unwell, physically or mentally.

-I got you. I'm here.- Krillin had stroked her back, putting her hair behind her ears, as he had done before, lately. Since the cyborg girl had begun to feel the need to feed on solid food she had been miserable, she felt like that everyday. Maybe something in her was no longer built to sustain that kind of diet.

-I'm afraid my mechanical bits are malfunctioning. I need to find someone who can eventually fix me.-

A normal doctor couldn't understand a thing about cyborgs, Eighteen was sure.

-You're right. I'm taking you to Bulma, she knows your physiology. You know, she even fixed Sixteen.-

It was the perfect opportunity to visit Bulma, as that tournament was taking place in the West City district.

Bulma, who was that? Ah yes, Krillin's scientist friend. The wife of the Saiyan who loathed her, the one who had provoked her and whom she had beaten mercilessly that time three years ago, shortly after her awakening. Eighteen didn't really feel like meeting a stranger, especially at a time when she felt vulnerable. She sat quietly and cautiously in the Briefs' laboratory, similar to but different from the last she had been in. Bulma was able to examine the girl only because she had already studied the cyborgs' blueprints: Future Trunks had brought them to her before Cell showed up, she had used them to build the famous remote control.

To tell the truth Bulma had only been able to study #17's, but Eighteen was unaware of it and was amazed at how well that woman knew her hybrid body.

Bulma inspected, tested and observed Eighteen with skill and care, before decreeing her diagnosis: -One thing is certain. The mechanical parts, however small, need relatively regular maintenance in order to always perform perfectly.-

It was Bulma's first time seeing #18 in real life and for a moment, just a tiny moment, her confidence wavered. Bulma Briefs was a beautiful woman, she always had been and she had always valued her appearance; but Krillin's twenty-year-old wife was something else entirely. She was also dangerous.

Thinking back to the photos of her she had seen and also to Kate Lang, Bulma realised that the savage beating was not the only reason why Vegeta, a guy who disdained - and therefore forgot - half the reality around him would not forget her. Assuming that resembling #17 also had that kind of presence, Bulma wondered if Gero hadn't done it on purpose.

Focusing again on Eighteen's problem, she speculated that Gero had surely foreseen having to carry out maintenance from time to time; but now that he was as good as dead, Eighteen might be in need.

Instead Bulma found out, as far as her lab allowed her, that the girl's mechanical parts were perfectly fine, her infinite energy core was no exception.

-You look very stressed and remember that in the end stress is not good for anyone, Eighteen. Not even for you.-

Krillin had intervened for her, -No Bulma. What my wife means is that she has only recently encountered these _malfunctions_, especially since she introduced solid food into her diet.-

-Ah! What a coincidence... wait, from what I know the other cyborg has had the same modifications. Eighteen, do you know if #17 is also subject to the same kind of _malfunctions _?-

He definitely wasn't. From what she remembered Seventeen ate at least four meals a day because he felt like it, and he was fine.

_"Mmm ...sure he is." _Bulma had asked her other questions, some quite personal, to which Eighteen refused an answer. Bulma had turned off all the scanners and machinery she had used to inspect Eighteen, -I don't think you need me, but a regular doctor.-

The girl's eyes darted from Bulma to Krillin, from Krillin to Bulma, as Bulma handed him a business card she had just pulled from a folder.

-You'll see, Eighteen, you'll be in good hands. You can even tell him you're a cyborg, he won't be scandalized, he's our family doctor …-

Eighteen nodded to thank Bulma for her kindness. She left the Capsule Corp. holding Krillin's arm, quite coldly. She was disappointed by the inconclusive consultation, even though she was relieved that her circuits, at least those, worked.

-Don't worry, love: you will get better soon, we all go through stress. I promise I'll help more with the wedding plan.-

Sweet, sweet Krillin. He was already helping her, to tell the truth he was already doing anything he could to make her life easier. Just then Eighteen received a message from Kate. Something had been delivered for her:

"_Letter from Sara Keller, Lazuli. The envelope says '_I can't say I do without you_'. " _

Eighteen called Kate back and asked her to open it: it was an invitation from her friend Sara, close to her wedding, to be her maid of honour. Watching them walk out of the garden of the CC, Bulma smiled:

_"Eighteen, dear… I didn't tell you what I wanted to tell you, I'll let you get there by yourself." _

As a scientist with a very high IQ, Dr. Briefs was once again amazed by the sublime work of the evil Gero, the only mind who could create perfect combinations of living organisms and cybernetics.

-What was she doing _here _in my house ?- Vegeta, this time, was VERY SURE that was the cyborg girl and not some close relative of hers -...That robotic, rotten blonde bimbo.-

-Eh no, Vegeta. First of all she's a married woman now, enough with the names. Second, she is as human as me or any other woman …-

Bulma paced back and forth, seraphic, still lost in thought.

-What do you mean? Why, woman, don't you talk in riddles.-

-You will see, eh, you will see,- the scientist had fun hypothesizing a deadline, innately happy for her best friend, -theoretically by the end of summer would make sense. Vegeta, I really think that for August or September old Roshi will have to add a place at his table. You know, as we did.-

Vegeta rolled his eyes as he realised that Bulma was referring to little Trunks.

/

Thoughts of the author:

As I thought, DB's zeni are about the same as today's Japanese yen (so I thought the DB Wiki says), so the handbag that Eighteen wants would retail for the lofty price of €5,000 (I'm using EUR as a benchmark). But later we will see that in the end she will not ask him for a single cent (but the bag will still be given to her by someone else) and the reason, my dearies, will be unveiled in chapters 24.


	23. The green Eyes of Love

Carly had returned to campus slightly sadder than when she had left during the summer: she wondered how she had spent twenty-two years living in cities without ever feeling like suffocating. Back at the faculty, she already missed the open spaces of the park. Moreover it was February and Lapis's birthday was fast approaching: even if the concept of "birthday" no longer existed, it was still a difficult time for her.

However Carly wanted to be strong, to stipulate a truce with herself: from that February 13th onwards she would only have addressed a thought to her beloved, but no more tears.

Enough with the tears.

Thinking positive, she had also grown proud of Lillian: after her departure, Carly had expected to have to manage the melancholy of the former top ranger and had organised herself so as to have at least an hour a day to devote to phone calls with her. But commitments aside, Lillian herself had told her that in the end it was not needed. The two of them were now so close that checkin in on each other once a week was enough. Carly had understood that for Lillian it was a milestone, and she had also felt proud of herself for having positively influenced her: if at the time of their first meeting last July Lillian had told her that the two of them would kick her sadness's ass, Carly could now tell the same about Lillian's codependency.

Focusing on quality rather than quantity had benefited their friendship: they were happier than ever to talk to each other when they happened to do so. Lately, however, Lillian seemed even more off than usual:

_"Carly, about your jacket you let me keep...What detergent did you usually do your laundry with? When you lived here," _Lillian asked one evening, looking at her seriously through the webcam.

"The one from the generic brand in the five-litre bottle that you also use. Why?"

Lillian had hoped that Carly would tell her the name of a particular fragrance but no, she didn't even wear perfumes, she was allergic: with the skin she had, Lillian might as well have figured it out on her own.

_"Nothing, just asking."_

Lillian had hung up on her out of nowhere and called Carly back the following day:

_"But if you have partial amnesia, if you forget whole pieces of life, can you recover them? Asking for a friend."_

Ahh, the famous "Asking for a friend"...

"I don't know, I'm no neuropsychiatrist, but I can inquire. Is it about your friend with benefits/sworn enemy by any chance?"

"Co-worker_. Who, by the way is from Central City. Are you really sure you don't know him? " _

"_Central City _is a very broad concept. Is it the one with the blue eyes?" Carly didn't really like the turn the conversation was taking "Blond?"

_"No, super dark-haired."_

Lillian had already summarised her colleague's situation in Central City. It had saddened Carly, she could identify with it, "Just tell him to go see a psychiatrist, it's nothing shameful or derogatory! For amnesia, home remedies are not enough...Between us, at the time I was afraid that Lapis would forget about me, so I gave him something to remind him of us. "

_"... Rather, mark the territory."_

"It was meant to be something sweet! If it had been you, completely inexperienced and with a boyfriend much more handsome than you, what would you have done?"

/

In the RNP they were doing well; having Seventeen as a top ranger had been a turning point that, it was said, would go down in history. Everyone knew it was thanks to him that everything was going surreally smooth that winter. It was implied common knowledge that he was the one who made it rain down on villages, rather than having them destroyed by avalanches:

_"Eh, it's Seventeen."_

The old folks thought he was magical: all they understood was that he faced an avalanche and the latter vanished in huge mists, in clusters of dense steam that eventually resulted in long showers. Someone would end up with three inches of water in their house, but it was an inconvenience that everyone preferred to avalanches.

Seventeen had, consequently, received substantial paychecks. The newfound safety in the RNP had brought in numbers of tourists higher than usual even in the low season.

The new top ranger had indirectly cracked down on winter tourism in the whole North. The management never saved on his checks, it was the least they could do.

John and the other two Musketeers were in a privileged position to watch him into action. For them he was a rock star:

-You should have seen him, Elliott. A few minutes and he dug a drain around Noiresylve: so that Poyaz and the others stop complaining about the mud.-

The musketeers were in Saint-Paul; Elliott sat on the sofa between Lillian and Seventeen, while Brent did his best to cook lunch: it was a rare chance that he, Sev, and Lilli had the same day off. He really liked to work with his hands.

_"Fucking bulldozer."_

Lillian no longer resented the brat's skills; even if they hadn't been friends, the extra influx of tourists had thickened her paycheck too.

Delighted, Brent placed a glorious plate of nachos in front of his roommates and guest, winking at the latter, -See Lillian, with me you shouldn't even cook, I'd just spoil you.-

-Great. So I'd become ugly, and fat, ... -

-For me you would never be ugly and fat.-

An awkward silence descended in the room. The Musketeers ate in religious silence, until the paleontologist let out a series of satisfied grunts, -These nachos ... they feel like an orgasm.-

-Yeah, sure,- Lillian deflated him.

/

It was late afternoon when Seventeen offered to take Lillian back. He had to talk to her, he said.

Since Halloween they hadn't done it anymore; they both _felt like_, but _didn't want to._

It had happened that they came close to doing it again, locking doors here and there for quickies that were always only attempted. Lillian had had to try hard to make self-love prevail: she knew that following up that night would hurt her.

In the long run she and Sev were meant to be just friends: they were too similar, they would end up fighting each other to the death. Lillian managed not to lose her sleep over it, despite _wanting _Seventeen and his capricious mouth, his lips sweet when loosened in a kiss but hard when fixed in a smirk, what Lillian saw most often.

And that was the way it should be.

As for Seventeen, he hadn't made things any more complicated for her. He had understood what he wanted; he had been so naïve to believe he could convince himself to forget Carly. The he who woke up after the _Cell situation _would have roughed him up: 

_"I have to find her. If I had her here now, I would take her in my arms and never let her go," _he had said to Eighteen, really feeling those words.

_"Whoever she was, it was something that saved me in a hopeless place."_

Carly had really saved him in the days of Cell's terror. At that time, just last June, finding Carly was a priority. And now?

_"Carly ..."_

In the car, Lillian was sorry to see Seventeen lower his head with his eyes closed, as if he wanted to hold back a cry. He was perhaps thinking about the _things _he had lost. As he drove on Lillian noticed in passing, for the first time, that the buckle of his watch was engraved with letters she couldn't make out. Arriving in Viey, they remained in the square:

-Did you want to tell me something, Seventeen?-

He had set his sights on not telling anyone about the conversion, except for his mother and Carly. But he didn't have many options with Lillian, who had wanted to be clear since they had first met. Now that they were friends it seemed almost wrong that she didn't know, and hiding the truth began to weigh. Another thing he had not foreseen: did the truth weigh?

In that case, talking to his friend would be good for him. They were already _very _close.

-Ok, Lillian. Do you remember when you asked me all those questions? Why I can do what I do.-

It was a reason that served him well at work, but which also explained his amnesia and the interruption of his most important relationship; he certainly didn't want to give Lillian any sort of rigmarole, but he was short of pretexts to use to be clear and curt.

-Do you remember when I told you I didn't have plastic surgery?-

-...turns out your _fangs _aren't natural?- 

-Yes, their appearance is natural. What I can do with them is another story.-

Lillian was struggling to follow him but grew curious when he asked her, since it was the first thing that crossed his mind, to give him something to chew. Anything.

-If you want to scrounge my snack, forget it.-

-Do you want the truth or not?-

Without seeing clearly, the former top ranger granted the request: she rummaged in her backpack and handed him her switchblade. She regretted it and screamed as the current top ranger bit off the blade.

Lillian shrieked in fear of seeing him get hurt, maybe kill himself. Seventeen turned the blade around in his mouth before spitting it into pieces on the tarred square.

He stopped and thought for a moment: if Eighteen were there, she would have pointed out his apparent obsession with metal objects when it came to making a confession to someone.

Lucky Eighteen: everyone around her was already at ease with her being a cyborg. Instead, _he_ always had to deal with basic humans.

-What ... what was that?-

-Your knife.-

_Very funny. _

-Sev…-

-It was me showing you the truth. I'm not talking nonsense.-

And again that process of bewilderment, disbelief and demonstrations that had also happened with Kate.

-I can't believe it!-

-Zero plastic surgery; but experimental, and illegal, surgery performed by a mad scientist on every cell in my body, or almost.-

Lillian didn't see him move, she saw only a flicker imprinted in the air around her; but she suddenly found herself high up in the sky, speeding up to Mount Severny, the peak that crowned the great Pessy plain.

-Ah, heck! You lout, what have you done?-

-I'm a cyborg, Lill.-

Seventeen was standing by her side ... he had brought her there.

They had just flown.

-YOU'RE WHAT?-

-A human with cybernetic grafts, in short.-

-Flying _Terminator_?-

Seventeen clicked his tongue, hands in his pockets and a self-satisfied look all for her, -_Terminator _is an android. I'm not.-

Lillian eyed him in wonder. Extraordinarily lucid, she wondered what he could _really _do, if what she had seen was just the tip of the iceberg.

-... that time with the poachers?-

-Bullets don't hurt me.-

She felt her mouth getting dry, -And the Noiresylve landslide?-

Seventeen scanned the plateau far below him: he was pretty sure nothing inhabited one of those rock façades. A kind of laser beam shot from his outstretched hand and hit the rock, which split in two, flawlessly cut.

Seventeen didn't have thermal scanners like Sixteen, but it could still detect the presence of people and animals. An explanation that was supposed to reassure Lillian, but which didn't have that effect.

Nobody _normal _ever thinks in their life that one day they will meet someone who takes offence when compared to a badass sci-fi icon, because "_The_ _Terminator sucks, he can't even create energy blasts _."

Like the ones she had just seen him do. But she, Lillian, was there in the presence of a _cyborg_.

For real.

She couldn't not believe him, when would it ever happen to her again? She knew the world was a strange place, but this was the most amazing experience she had ever had. In the freezing atmosphere of that insane altitude, that was all Lillian could think of.

-...why are you a cyborg?-

-Eh, this mad scientist wanted to take revenge on an enemy of his, so he kidnapped and converted my sister and me. After Cell's defeat, I found my mother and she helped me piece together. Some things, at least. Like my birthday.-

It would have been next Monday, the 13th. Lillian's mind escaped for a minute, she had to find him a gift ...

Seventeen had been a regular Central City kid, Lillian told herself she _had to _scour the Internet, on the spot it all seemed so unreal. She had to verify somehow, but maybe she would have to _come down from freaking Mt. Severny _first_. _

She heard a rollercoaster snap and a sucking of air as Seventeen grabbed her again; seconds later she found herself down in lodging 36B.

Fuck...did he destroy cities too?

Sev's eyes became fleeting again, -Once. But it was only a few square km, not qualifying as a city.-

-Ah well, only a few square km so a piece of city, this makes me feel _much_ better.-

-Now enough, all this is too much for you.-

He said it more to himself than to her; in spite of everything, his conundrum was always something indigestible, especially when it superimposed on _human situations _suchas having to explain it to someone who deserved to know, but who could not fully understand.

-So I slept with Terminator …-

-With _me_; and it seems to me that you aren't sorry,- he winked deviously, leaning towards Lillian with one hand on the wall, -But don't call me _downloader _anymore, it's not funny.-

-...it was _docker_! And you owe me a knife, in fact.-

Seventeen grinned, as if that appellation suited him instead, -In honour of our pact, friendship, I told you who I am. And you won't betray me.-

Instinct told Lillian that this was an order. But she knew Seventeen wouldn't hurt her, they were friends. The confession did not prevent the girl from continuing to see Seventeen simply as a gorgeous man, from always feeling that tinge of desire; on her doorstep, Lillian moved closer to him and brushed his hair behind his ear, gently running her thumb over his hoop earring and all the way to his mouth. They both looked at each other for a long moment before turning away with a "Nope!"

/

Lillian mulled over. She felt upset: she was thinking about how much she had played with fire, at first, to declare war on him. For Seventeen it must have been ridiculous, if he really hated her he could have ripped her apart with one finger. She thought of how lucky she and the others were to have Seventeen on their side and not as an enemy.

No, madness! He was just a boy and she had verified it well, there were things one could not feign. But then…

If in the most urbanised areas of the planet there was a tendency to forget about it, in the North it was still very evident and no one thought otherwise: no man could equal Nature, she and her power were incomparable.

And yet Seventeen, with his ability to fly, with his resistance close to invulnerability and his incalculable strength that allowed him to neutralize landslides and avalanches in ways still incomprehensible, Seventeen gave Mother Nature a run for her money.

Lillian then thought back to the _normal _human behaviours she had seen him have, she always remembered what they had done: he _was _a living organism.

And now watching him chop wood for her, something ordinary and even kind, her desire to find out more was gone, as if she were afraid of breaking the spell: after all, Seventeen had been very direct and there was no need to dig. It even seemed to her that wanting to dig kept her from accepting the truth.

Lillian was starting to feel calm again when, taking from her a glass of fruit juice, Seventeen revealed again the buckle of his this time Lillian saw it well: a dedication, _"To L. from C."_

-Seventeen ... your watch?-

-It has sentimental value. It was a birthday present.-

Seventeen went on about his business, but seemed to notice Lillian's shock-like state.

Those few words had ignited a synapse that Lillian herself was amazed at. A very fresh memory flashed before her eyes, something that perhaps had the potential to overshadow what Seventeen had just revealed about himself. And what he had told her was, for Pete's sake, that he _was a cyborg. _

A few days earlier Carly had told Lillian that she had given her high school sweetheart an engraved watch for his sixteenth birthday. _L. _and _C._

_To Lapis from Carly. _

Carly had told her about Lapis's very blue eyes, _"also a dark-haired-light-eyed type", _about his falsely extroverted personality. Could it be?

_"Oh God…."_

It now seemed crystal clear! It wasn't a mystery, it wasn't a secret. It was one a massive, painful misunderstanding.

A misunderstanding involving her two best friends; Lillian felt like she was living the intrigue of a novel.

However, the emotional pressure was enormous and she began to hyperventilate. She ignored where she found the readiness to take the situation head on:

-Do you want more apple juice, Lapis?-

-Yes please.-

When he noticed he froze, hatchet in midair; Lillian's senses didn't immediately register that he had moved in front of her. There was even no need for Seventeen to touch her for Lillian to feel threatened: now she no longer saw her silly co-worker, she didn't even see her hot friend. All she saw the cyborg.

His gaze was absolutely icy, even more so than the time he had asked her about the jacket; _Carly's jacket!_

-For you I'm just Seventeen, period.-

Lillian felt like a little fly caught in a cobweb, -All right, don't eat me!-

She had nowhere to flee. His voice was a kind of low roar, but he did not deny...

At that moment Lillian's phone rang; the ringtone was a stupid yodelling voice. Although he didn't want to give up the _shit yourself _stare that scared basic humans on a subconscious level, Seventeen had to relieve the stress; he couldn't hold back a hearty laugh.

Lillian was still scared, Seventeen's giggle didn't relieve her tension. She handed him the cell phone with a shaky hand, -You answer.-

The phone rang and rang; the cyborg pressed on the speaker.

_"Lillian? About time. You're not even texting me back... "_

Dead silence.

_"Lillian? Are you there?" _

"...Carly, is Lapis's date of birth February 13th?"

_"Er ... yes." _

Carly didn't remember telling Lillian.

Seventeen had to swallow a lump of nerves. Lillian urged him to say something, but came to his aid nonetheless, "Carly. I've got Lapis."

"..."

"He's standing right here. Tell her something, come on," Lillian added then, looking at Seventeen with screaming eyes.

_"Lillian, it's not funny."_

There was only silence after Carly's unexpectedly lapidary warning. Then the rangers heard a click and the screen went dark.

-Carly is in North City, she lives and goes to vet school there. She thinks you're dead, youmust go see her.-

Lillian's hand and voice still quivered. They both knew this was not the time to demand answers and context. It was time to act.

Seventeen was about to rake his leave, but at the last minute he turned to Lillian, lifted her in a real best-friends hug and immediately took off in front of her eyes.

/

It was already evening when Brent heard incessant knocks on the door; opening it, he found a shocked but also relieved Lillian:

-Well? Everything all right?-

-Holy crap, Bren.-

The Viking lacked a lot of fundamental context, but seeing the girl he loved so excited made him not give a damn about an invasion of privacy and he hastily hugged her.

He found himself having to break the ice, -Do you want me to tell you _all _about the errors of reenactors? Not just the beginners, the seasoned ones like me too.-

For the first time her expression was affectionate, -Yup. I would really like you to tell me.-

/

Carly was in the North. Seventeen could hardly believe it. He had flown like a missile from Viey to the North City University. Even though a flight and a run across the campus couldn't tire him, he was out of breath.

-Do you know where Carly Der Veer is? She's studying here, she's from from Central City.-

-I don't know, try the secretariat, bottom right,- a student cut short, pointing to a door at the end of the corridor.

Seventeen hurled himself into the small office, where a woman in her sixties was tapping listlessly on a keyboard.

-Carly Der Veer. She's a student here, vet school, her hair is red,- -

-Dear, calm down! I know who Miss Der Veer is. Sit down now.-

The secretary interrupted the rowdy boy who had almost crashed into the door, and then insolently leaned against her desk as if he wanted to climb over it. Nothing kept her from suggesting him to take a flying leap, it was half past six and it was time for her to go home. However the lad seemed to really need a hand so she listened to him, but still waited for him to do as she had asked and calm down. It took a few minutes for his gaze to stop darting around the room:

-Now tell me, why are you looking for her?-

The words just escaped him, and astonished him for the true meaning they carried, -...She's my wife. I have to see her.-

The secretary noted that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, but she postponed: by now young people no longer married, they immediately lived together and did everything just as if they were husband and wife. As far as she was concerned, he was telling the truth:

-Yes, the young lady is a student here; I can give her a call.-

-Just tell me where it is right now.-

-Young man, here at the _UNC _weprotect the privacy of our students. You can't even prove to me that you know her …-

She leafed through a file and pulled out a sheet, then dialled a number on her old landline, -What's your name dear?-

_"Seventeen."_

No, not like that. There was only a name Carly knew him by, and he hadn't introduced himself with it in a while, -Lapis.-

The secretary nodded to him with a smile. Discreetly, Seventeen studied Carly's information sheet. He memorised her phone number and address. He shook inside at the sight of her photo. It was her, there was no doubt. The girl in the photos at Kate's house, the vaporous entity of his dreams, Carly. They were one and the same.

It was just a small photo, but those jade eyes were so real. The eyes of love itself.

_"Hello?"_

Seventeen's heart pounded once again when he heard the voice of his Carly; a painful yearning slowly broke through flesh and circuits, once and for all. He would never go back.

"Miss Der Veer, it's Margaret from the secretariat, sorry for the inconvenience. Your husband Laurie is here for you. Yes, seriously."

Margaret nodded apologetically as she caught the boy's annoyed expression, "Your husband _Loris_."

Seventeen bowed his head, with false resignation.

"Your...Mathis?"

At the third slaughter of that simple name, Seventeen stifled the urge to wring that Margaret woman's neck with a slap. With his teeth and fists clenched, Seventeen inhaled and closed his eyes for a few seconds:

"_Count to ten before you do something. Come on, it's not much of an effort. One two,..."_

He did as Kate had suggested, Kate was always right: he had to avoid fits of anger, which if not controlled would make him do another number like the Commando or the poachers, _"... ten."_

If the cyborg had calmed the anger, the need to talk to Carly was always there: he jumped on the desk and tore the receiver from Margaret's hand.

"Carly. Carly?!"

No sound came from the other side of the line: when the boy looked at the receiver, he noticed that it was all crushed in his hand.

_"Shit."_

Small pieces of plastic bounced off the floor as Seventeen handed the phone back to Margaret and vanished with his sly smile.

Lillian called him back, all out of breath: she had managed to extract one last piece of information from Carly in time, before she hung up in her face. Carly wasn't at the university right now and he had to run, he had to stop her; he had to stop her train.

/

Whenever she seriously thought about putting her heart in peace, something had to happen. In the end, she had expected Lillian to become extremely petulant to get her attention. But she too bringing up Lapis, out of the blue, that was something Carly hadn't expected. It was way over the line.

How dare Lillian use the weakness she had confessed to her against her, as Leni had done? But with Lillian it was much, much worse: she was almost a sister to Carly and she had made fun of her. Just two days before Lapis's birthday.

With no exams in sight, Carly had decided on the spot that she would spend the week with her father; she was struggling to study in those days and didn't want to be alone. She didn't feel clear enough to drive.

Carly felt the insidious fingers of depression curl around her neck even there, in the comings and goings of platform C.

She going to Central City had been the last news she'd given Lillian, to silence her after dozens of missed calls. The cell phone rang briefly and Carly read another text message:

_Lapis is coming to you! Don't get on that train..._

Carly shook his head and her attention was drawn to her train which, ready for a new ten-hour journey to Central City's Northern Station, opened the doors to accommodate its passengers.

Resembling an elegant fairy in her baby pink beret and woolen coat, Carly caught the attention of other travellers when the whistle blowed and she boarded.

The high-speed train left the station lazily; Carly stared blankly at the snow sticking to the window when every coach in the train was hit by a sudden crash. An unexpected jolt, which scattered passengers and luggage down on the floor like Shanghai sticks.

The whole convoy was hastily evacuated in the general clamour, amid protests from passengers. The speakers rang with the train driver's voice, calling for order. Technicians, ticket inspectors and the driver himself had expected to find an obstacle on the rails; but the front of the train was completely, _impossibly _intact.

The passengers were focused on their own frustration and/or bruises, more and more people were crowding the rails out of curiosity or concern.

Everyone was too busy to notice that, detached from all that turmoil, someone was walking calmly on the roof of the train, aiming at the girl with the long red plaits making her way through the crowd.

Meanwhile Carly was walking along the rails with the intention of regaining platform C and then the ticket office; she straightened her coat, protecting herself from the dense crowd around her. Hearing someone calling her name, she looked up at the train.

Carly daydreamed; she saw her Lapis jump off the roof and follow her along the railway. She stood for a moment to admire him: he was so handsome, full of life as when he had accompanied her home that distant evening.

So damn charming as she had always wanted to remember him, with the same cheerful-arrogant grin, the long hair, the passionate eyes that of ice had only the colour.

Carly wanted that mirage to be gone with the blink of an eye. She didn't want to suffer anymore.

She walked on without hesitation, hiding her tears and turning her back on that ghost. She walked fast, she almost started running.

Until a hand, a loving and real hand gently grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her run.

The walls and the open ceiling of the train station overlapped the picture in her dream: she and Lapis kissing in a crowded hall.

Carly almost felt herself fall as Lapis pulled her straight onto his chest and his arms gripped her. He called her softly, repeating the five letters of the name _Carly _like a prayer, as his crazed heart pounded against her face and his warm breath brushed her hair. 

Carly inhaled his scent and squeezed his flesh, she died of love at that contact. But only feeling the heartbeat of her Lapis, the man of her life, her only love, did Carly dare to open her eyes. And she no longer wanted to close them; it was all true.

Seventeen couldn't stop shaking. He was struck by that feeling he had feared so much: how had he gotten so far from home?

He was in love, disarmed. He lowered every defence.

He was cut to the heart by the green eyes of love.

/

Thoughts of the author:

Well well, I hope you all (like I did) rooted all along for our boi Seventeen to get his girl back!

Lillian proved herself a worthy friend once again: not only did she figure out that _Sev_ and Lapis are the same person, she also led him straight to Carly's arms. And Seventeen gave her his best once again, telling her the truth about him. I tried to keep Lilli's reaction as realistic as possible.

Thanks to all my readers for making it this far! I'll be back soon with bombshell chapter 24, "Big Dreams becoming reality" (for both cyborgs!)

Ps. The site doesn't allow for pictures in chapters but this is how I imagine Carly to look like, art by me!⬇⬇⬇

.


	24. Big Dreams becoming Reality

At the North City train station, nosy people had gathered around a train stopped while it was already on its way; but among whistles and speakers, those people had also found themselves framing a romantic scene from another time. A very young proud-looking man was leaning in a kiss over an ethereal and delicate creature, his arms wrapped around her. People watched in silence, as if not to disturb them; but they wouldn't have cared anyway, in that moment they weren't there.

They were in another world.

Carly and Lapis, standing by the tracks, took each other in a hug as if they didn't want to let the other go anymore.

They hugged tightly, grateful for each other's presence. It was magical and surreal to taste each other again, to graze each other's face between kisses. With that contact they retrieved the knowledge of their loved one's body, inhaling the scent of skin, clothes and hair, taking advantage of the wonderful feeling of mutual touch and warmth. Their tactile memory had never forgotten the body of true love and now it still didn't feel real to re-explore it with hands, cheeks and the tip of the nose.

Carly didn't believe it, even if her lips worked with desire those of Lapis, so soft and pleasant; the contact with his hot skin, smoother than she remembered, drove her crazy.

In total abandonment of her senses, Carly had the urge to lie there on that floor. She wanted so badly to lie down, on the floor. Lapis seemed to indulge her but then stopped, putting her back on her feet as her knees already gave in.

The faint residue of _perfume _on her jacket had given Seventeen that jolt in his blood, but having Carly there with him, smelling _all _ofher and finally seeing her face wasn't _tears_, it was tumultuous drowning.

Carly's body language was clear, she had told him everything he needed to know; and Seventeen couldn't wait.

He couldn't anymore.

To the amazement of those present, the boy took the fairy in his arms and ran out of the station in two leaps.

Carly laughed as Lapis ran through the city streets, still holding her against him; she laughed to see Lapis's dishevelled hair. Carly was _happy_, really happy at last.

Hers was a liberating laugh.

Realising that Lapis was taking her to her studio flat, Carly anticipated what was about to happen. She felt her heart beat even faster.

They sat kissing in the dark hallway of the studio flat, her hand slipping under all of the top ranger's clothes, and his hands taking, claiming the fervour between her legs. Seventeen did not tear off her clothes: he took the time, with both dreamy and arrogant gestures, to take off garment after garment, letting her undress, until he found himself squeezing that other skin whose living scent attracted him so much that it hurt. Carly throbbed, every tremor shook her breasts.

Seventeen felt her velvet nipples touch his chest; the desire that arose from his depths had descended into his legs, had become a squeeze in his heart, a twist in the pit of his stomach, and finally it had risen in his head.

For an infinite time he had been without her. And Carly was a wonderful sensory paradise.

For Seventeen it was no effort to hold her up against the wall; he let himself be guided by his body and eagerly searched for Carly's scent among the inlets and mountains of her neck, navel, joints, breasts. Carly dropped sideways onto a chest of drawers as Seventeen dragged his tongue over the softest part of her thighs and buried his face between them.

He licked greedily, as if he wanted to scrape off her flesh. She was as mellow as butter, she was just sweetness...

Seventeen had already imagined that his desire would be enormous, that that fierce appetite of his would return _to the square _in front of Carly. _His Carly_, who was more than just _sexual drive_, but who was also the pinnacle of desire.

Carly was the real deal. The hunger he had felt with Lillian paled before her: he knew that, unlike Halloween, one night would never be enough to satisfy him. He wanted her so many times, without stopping, maybe not even years would have been enough. He needed all the time he had.

That evening, joy and pain became two faces of the same emotion; he was _#17_, a strange combination of crime and humanity now stripped of the unshakeable armour that the awareness of his power gave him. His Carly, his darling was so small against him, above and below him. But she was far more powerful, she controlled time. And she dragged him with her.

Hour after hour Seventeen's instinct found its way back on the splendid paths of that body, made to love: he knew what to do and lived again wandering in another dimension, with infinite more power. But this time he wasn't wandering alone, in that dimension there were him _and _Carly. He had not only fully entered her body, he was inseparable from her mind.

Sitting astride him, Carly dragged her lips to the corners of his jaw and cheekbones, she hugged him tight, -Happy birthday, my sweet love.-

It was just past midnight.

Each of the many times that Seventeen left his mark in her womb, the past mingled with the present and he was both fifteen and twenty-two years old. Carly knew that Lapis never spoke during sex, but that night he told her he loved her: he told her against the wall, among the soft blankets, on the table too small for two, on the floor. He loved her with all the drama of a first time.

He became again the inexperienced boy who had climbed onto the bed with the pink quilt in Mr. Der Veer's house, over that sixteen-year-old girl, blooming and pretty, red as an apple. It was the first time he'd said "I love you" to her.

At that moment, the three years without her no longer mattered. In the first moments of their seventh year together, Seventeen looked with almost the same awe and shyness at his own semen on Carly's see-through skin, on her breasts heavy like ripe fruit, between her thighs, on her neck. And Carly, who didn't want to surrender to sleep, enjoyed that sensation on her skin keeping her precious jade eyes closed, touching, licking.

He was the only one in the world who could _mark her _likethat. All that beauty, that _sacred_, that femininity and fertility were_ his._ Carly was only his. 

He wanted Carly in every way a man could want a woman, but he also felt that it was the same for her: she _wanted _him to be the only one. 

And she told him, falling asleep, while they were still one. Carly drifted off into sleep, staring into Seventeen's eyes.

-You know I love you, Lapis? I've never stopped.-

She remained in the dreamlike dimension of semi-sleep, almost moved to feel Lapis going slowly at it, secretly satisfied and excited by his continuous orgasms. He was never done, and it was because he was with _her_.

Seventeen wasn't tired, but he felt emotionally drained. Carly was a hurricane. Now he just wanted to look at her, he couldn't take his eyes off her; and smelling his own scent on her made him feel invincible.

_"Wow ..."_

He watched her curl up against him. He remained to caress her, to admire her, as she finally fell asleep.

/

Carly woke up alone.

Not at her father's house in Central City but in her small flat in the North. The sun was already shining on the shutters. It must have been late morning.

9 o'clock! She had to hurry up and start her day, get down to study. But in all honesty, she wasn't there with her head. She and Lapis together, had that been just another delusion?

In that case, Carly would soon find herself face to face with reality, she had lost count of how many _real dreams _shehad had.

But that was the reality. She had gotten Lapis back.

A hair between the sheets (it wasn't hers) told her; the intense sensation of wetness she felt down there shouted it in her face.

Her missed phone calls weren't just Lillian's: Carly should have been with her father by now, George Der Veer was probably on his way to pick her up from the train station in Central City.

Sitting in the bathroom watching the tub fill, Carly wanted to reassure him but could only mutter insincere excuses. George never knew his daughter was patting her thighs dry with a tissue, while telling him over the phone not to worry about her change of plans.

"I stayed in North City, with Lapis."

While tears of joy flowed free, on the other hand Carly couldn't stop thinking about the _mechanics_.

It was weird: Lapis could have kept going all night, he had come over and over again in the space of a normal embrace. He had never done that before, Carly wondered if it was humanly possible. But still, it was something she had just experienced.

Carly ignored where Lapis had gone, but she expected that he would claim breakfast when he returned; in other circumstances she would have told him to make it himself, but now she was happy to prepare something for_ them_. She put some porridge cooking on the hob and set the table.

_"Lapis..."_

Carly kept thinking about the last hours of her life. She bemusedly stirred the porridge in the saucepan, she couldn't snap out of it; only the sudden click of the lock made her. Carly's heart started racing again, even before Lapis walked through the door of the studio flat. Seeing her there all trembling, he smiled and winked at her, -Here comes breakfast.-

He put a paper bag of freshly baked bagels in her hands, and pulled her to him.

-Lapis, do you know there was a bakery around the corner? You almost went all the way to Central City.-

-Eh, on my way back I ran out of bread…-

Carly felt moved to see his crooked smile. The same, the same as always.

-It's really you…-

She laughed from her heart, as only he could have her do. She put her arms around his neck and started kissing him, the bag of hot bread still in her hands, -Anyway, you could have stayed here with me. I had all I needed to make breakfast at home.-

Seventeen smelled the cooking oats and suddenly remembered how much he hated that pre-chewed gruel: Kate used to dilute it with water to keep it from burning, while she dashed around the house at 6 am, like a madwoman. Though he didn't blame her, Kate had scarred him for life with bowls of tasteless, half-burnt porridge to eat quickly before jumping into the car and go to school.

He devoured another bagel, -Mm. That's sad.-

Carly's gaze then fell on his pants; he was wearing her pj's bottoms, lavender-coloured, decorated with little bows, which left his skin bare from the knee down. Lapis was only about twenty centimetres taller than her, but he was all legs.

-My jammies, I was looking for them! What happened to your pants?-

He spoke to her curtly and cast his eyes down, -Your fault.-

At the station, the mere contact with Carly had driven him so crazy that he hadn't controlled the timing of certain… reactions.

Carly winked and blushed, -Aaawww babe, I'm so sorry.-

That was a great, great satisfaction. So, Lapis was even naked under those pj's...

Carly shook her behind against his crotch and walked towards the kitchen corner, -Here, give me your clothes; I'll do the laundry.-

Seventeen stood looking at her. The special thing about Carly was that she didn't just devastate him when she touched his package, or when he watched her climax. Every gesture she made, bending over to pick up clothes to wash, sit on a chair and eat a bagel, bewitched him, excited him. Little vixen...

He felt thrilled again as Carly crossed her round, cute legs in a way that intentionally let him see that she was wearing nothing under her skirt.

-Let me take care of you now. You know, after last night...keep going and going and at some point that pistol runs out of ammo,- she teased, stroking her wet hair.

The candid Carly speaking of firearms in those terms, with that innocent little voice of hers ...

_"Damn it."_

Seventeen leapt to her side, only now thinking back to the latest he had discovered about his enhanced body, -Ah, silly: I can shoot all the ammo I want, like a machine gun. Are you sure you want to play this game with me?-

Carly held his smirk, victorious; the light, elastic fabric of her pj's showed her in real time the_ machine gun _rising into an attack position. Oh, she was happy to play: Lapis was _hers _again and she couldn't ask for more.

She sat him down and knelt on the floor, chin on his thigh, pompously running a ribbon through her hair, -After all, my love, today is still your birthday.-

/

Brent sat peacefully at home; together with Elliott he played on the playstation, cackling and jumping up for emphasis every now and then, -Kamikaze behind you! And bam…-

Elliott was a quieter gamer than Brent; watching his character die for the umpteenth time since they started playing, he took off his headphones and was the first to hear the doorbell ring. He stared through the peephole and called in a low voice, -Psst, Brent! Valkyrie at the door. Holy Kami in Heaven…-

Elliott had adopted Brent's lingo: Brent used the term _valkyrie_ to define tall, energetic-looking girls.

The Viking cocked his head like a meerkat, still not wanting to go near the door, -Red hair? A lot of red hair…-

From his stronghold behind the peephole, Elliott winked again, -It's not Lillian. She's smoking hot, though…-

At the end of the sentence Elliott lost his voice, as if he had suddenly been paleontologist watched the new Valkyrie pacing back and forth on the landing. He didn't want to be misunderstood by Brent: Lillian was definitely a glorious taco herself, but this one, oh Angels! An arse like that, he had only seen it in movies.

Brent had felt the excitement rise and then come back down with a slight disappointment. It seemed that Lillian wasn't visiting him. The night before, he was sure there had been something between the two of them when the former top ranger had flung herself into his arms, trembling and euphoric to the point of looking high. Brent still didn't know why Lillian had fallen into his arms in such a state, but holding her to his chest, wrapped in a blanket, had warmed his heart.

The tailor opened the door and tried to give himself a demeanour, however unable to contain the astonishment: the Valkyrie was a young girl with rather short hair styled in two cheeky low pigtails. She looked back at him, laconic.

-Oh hello you!...Do we know each other?-

She was carrying a small, elegant-looking white paper bag. Brent studied her short, lightweight dress and delicate heeled shoes, both unsuitable for a mid-February day. In the North it was still midwinter. He couldn't remember where he could have seen her, but something about her looked familiar.

The girl looked around, more anxious to view his home than to interact with him. Could she have been sent to conduct an inspection, due to the fact that in their house the music was often loud and some old nag had reported them? Or maybe she was there for Elliott's weed ..

Brent stepped aside chivalrously and let her in. She paused to look at a Lego shuttle maybe a metre tall, stowed on top of the longest exposed beam. Elliott tried to strike up a conversation with her, mumbling, -You like Lego, I like Lego too! But that's our other roommate's.-

-I'd figured.-

-Do you want to see mine?-

She ignored the paleontologist's attempts and continued to look around the living room. The boys instead looked at her:

-Hey, Bren. You nailed this one or what?-

-Sure. Do you think a girl like that would give it to me?-

Brent was having a hard time expressing himself. Being face to face with that girl had practically hypnotized him; if they had already met Brent would have certainly remembered a woman so hot, even hotter than Lillian. Maybe a schoolmate? No...She was certainly not a Northerner, her accent revealed it. Besides, she had cat eyes but to Brent she still looked young, at a guess she could have been Lillian's age. Still keeping her arms crossed over her chest, the new Valkyrie said something that seemed out of context:

-Hm, check this out. Better than my house, I never would have said it...this home feels great. Anyway, no we don't know each other. And I only give it to my husband.-

Her husband? Lucky bastard…

The boys changed colour, they were convinced they had spoken quietly enough. Elliott found his voice again:

-In any case, how can we help you? Since you're not here for Brent.-

She stared at the video game on TV, -I want to play.-

Of course, she could do whatever she wanted: they would let her win, it was too cruel to humiliate an angel. The gamers smiled almost tenderly when she promised she would tear them apart: _Warrior Duty IV _was her favorite game, the Valkyrie was yet to meet anyone to beat her on those grounds populated by snipers in keffiyeh.

When her character blew Brent's head off for the umpteenth time the Valkyrie, now in a position to look at them almost with tenderness, did them a favour and gave them free advice:

-I was behind you. There was also a sniper hiding on the balcony, and a drone at three o'clock above your armoured truck: didn't you see it?-

-...But I was focused on watching my back from you and your bazooka!-

It escaped Brent how she could notice every little detail of _Warrior Duty IV _'s rich graphics without getting a headache.

-Anyway, now that you're here can I get you a margarita?- Brent was still the host, he doubted that the delightful stranger with a gold ring on her finger had come just to play. -Although I'd say you're more of a Cointreau girl. Ice and orange slice?-

The Valkyrie made a gesture of dissent, -I'm hungry. I need to eat.-

She said it so peremptorily that Brent was afraid she was going to eat _them_. The Viking blessed his new hobby, pulling a bowl of cookie dough out of the fridge, -I don't know about you, but I like it more when it's raw than in the form of cookies …-

Brent ruled out that she wanted to eat from the same bowl with him and Elliott and handed her a cup, -You haven't told me your name yet and why you are here.-

-Eighteen. Today is my birthday.-

-Happy birthday then! It's an important one.-

-...Turning twenty-two, why?-

The cardinal number was her given name then. Elliott pointed out that she was the same birthday and age as their third roommate. Brent remembered the bag she had come to his door with and felt his heart skip. That's why she was there: was she a lover of Seventeen's?

-No, stupid. I'm his sister.-

Oh yeah; now the boys could see it.

-Are you guys twins?- Brent investigated, -I mean, you look alike.-

-Yes, we're twins, but we looking similar has nothing to do with that.-

-No no, I meant- -

-I know what you meant. It was conceptually wrong anyway, we are fraternal, not identical: genetically-wise we're regular siblings.-

Brent remembered the biology classes: fraternal twins, right, two eggs and two sperms.

Kate's powerful genetics had made her and Seventeen look similar but, heck, she was a woman and he was a man, you can't get more different than that! People shut off their brains when they heard the _T-word_, they thought all twins must be identical.

Kate had been explaining it since they were born, especially to those who accused her of dyeing the hair of one of them to distinguish them:

_"They are twins, how can they be a brunette and a blonde?"_

As a child, Eighteen wanted to show them in what they differed...

Once the Valkyrie had finished the third portion of cookie dough, she headed for the hallway. Brent stopped her:

-Seventeen is not here. We can't find him, John is furious...But I think he had something for you.-

Meanwhile, Elliott had gone to rummage through Seventeen's room. Eighteen told him that doing it discreetly was still a bad idea: he would have noticed that someone had touched his things, it was something he hated.

-...it's a bag with a logo …-

Upon hearing the paleontologist scream the logo description, Eighteen changed her mind and had the package brought. Quilted black leather appeared from champagne-coloured wrapping paper, Eighteen held her breath.

Too bad for Seventeen, next time he would deign to honour the agreement with her for gift exchanges, instead of having her go at the arse end of nowhere.

_"Well; Seventeen can afford gifting me the handbag I wanted, and my husband and I have to live in a crowded little house..." _

She would never tell her twin brother; he would just raise an eyebrow, suggesting that she do something useful in her life.

Eighteen handed Brent her present for him, -Playing _Duty _was fun. Give this to my brother.-

-Wait up! Seventeen's favourite colour is orange, isn't it?-

Brent had to decide what dye to use for the gift he would soon start crafting for him; hell, having known he would have set to work a month early. He had only heard about his birthday from Lillian, the night before.

-Yes and no, it's blue. Orange for details.-

-I want to make him a scarf, he lost his…-

-Orange, then. Now I have to rush to Central City.-

Hundreds of miles from there? The boys were alone again.

-…He'll notice that I touched his things, right? Fuck…-

-Probably he will, Elliott.-

The paleontologist then thought back to his own words, -I called Sev's sister smoking hot...-

-Ehh, what should I tell you.-

-Holy cow...But since they look the same, does that mean Sev is smokin' hot too?-

Brent brooded in embarrassment, scratching his beard. Elliott stared at the closed door thoughtfully, -But he is, right?-

The Viking just took back the joystick; he didn't intend to answer that question.

/

Eighteen was in a fantastic mood that day. And not just because the new bag that hung from her as she flew and the wind froze on her eyebrows and hair. She would drop by Sara and give her the invitation: she intended to ask her the same thing, be her maid of honour, but what she was thrilled about was something she wanted to do in Kate's company.

The cyborg girl already knew that the conversion had given her an unparalleled physical sensitivity: this made her conscious, even if not necessarily aware, of what was going on in her body.

So it hadn't been long since that trip to Capsule Corp. that Eighteen had understood. Since mid-January she had felt strange signals of energy, tiny and intermittent, without knowing where they came from. They always seemed to be around her; very often she whirled around in a corridor, it seemed to her that she was being followed. But she had been yet to figure that the presence she felt was undoubtedly real, just not around her.

It was with her, _inside_ her.

So when it was finally time to see that the arrival of February would bring the first of a series of delays, Eighteen realised it was _possible._ It had happened to her.

With that explanation flashing in her head like a light bulb, Eighteen was able to explain the _malfunctions _that had so disturbed her. She hadn't had the heart to take the test, all the attempts ended in nothing still made her suffer. She didn't want to see that lone red line anymore. She had told herself to wait until March before claiming victory, but on the other hand Bulma Briefs had tipped her off. Resisting the temptation to confirm her suspicions had been hard, it had made her feel restless. 

Eighteen remembered that the privilege of having a good mother was just about that: being able to count on support in times of trouble. She didn't need Krillin, not even Seventeen right now.

She just wanted her mother.

She found Kate in her office in Central City. Without giving her time to understand what she wanted from her, Eighteen dragged her into the toilets and locked herself in a bathroom.

-Lazuli? Are you ok?-

Wriggling not to touch the toilet seat, Eighteen silenced her mother, -If you're there on the lookout, I can't: I have to pee on a stick.-

She said no more. Kate, who barely listened when Lazuli yelled at her, was suddenly shaken by those words. Was her daughter really doing what she thought she was doing?

-Lazuli?-

-Wait three minutes, mum.-

Those three minutes were the longest of her life. Eighteen wanted them to pass quickly, she could no longer bear the rumble of her own heart. Bam, bam, in her chest, in her ears, it sounded deafening. Eighteen was so tense she feared she'd throw up.

Kate was almost afraid to say those words; her little girl had grown up. When had it happened?

-...Lazuli, are you pregnant?-

Kate could only hear the sound of her own agitated breathing until her daughter opened the bathroom door. Lazuli looked at her with two eyes full of emotion, as Kate hadn't seen in a long long time.

She was silent; Kate watched her give a tiny nod with her head and raise her eyebrows, as she held a hand tightly to her lips and inhaled.

Kate glimpsed the two red dashes that many women considered infamous; she herself had perceived them this way at the time of her first test, years ago. She couldn't hold back the tears, her daughter's face was a _yes_ clearer than any test.

It was a dream coming true, in the end Gero had not stolen from her the possibility of bringing a new life into the world. A creature half her own and half the man she loved; Eighteen didn't even know how to feel. It was a moment that overshadowed each one of her goddamn torments.

It was as she had assumed in those feverish days before jumping in and taking the test: she had gotten pregnant in the past year. When Sixteen had visited her in late December, her and Krillin's baby was probably already there.

She would have been a mother. At the dawn of her twenty-second birthday, life had given Eighteen the gift of motherhood.

/

Hearing the phone ring again, Krillin stopped training and sat on the cold sand outside the Kame House.

"Hey Bul. Did you miss us?"

Bulma called Krillin more often in those days than she had during the entire course of their friendship.

_"I wanted to know how Eighteen is feeling."_

"The usual. She went to see her mother now."

Even though Krillin couldn't see her face, Bulma sounded puzzled.

_"Let me know. I don't know what complications can arise in this situation, but I think about it ..."_

What _complications_?

Krillin hung up when he saw Eighteen coming in from afar. As she landed on the beach, she didn't give him time to greet her. She lifted him at the height of her mouth and pressed a kiss on his lips.

-Eighteen, you're happy...what happened?-

She just smiled shyly and handed him a gift box, watching with her heart aflutter as Krillin opened it.

-Socks? How cute, thank you.-

Krillin smiled at her as he continued to unwrap the little gift; another pair of socks fell from his hand, and he grabbed it before it fell to the ground.

-More socks! My love, okay I'm a shorty but these don't fit me.-

He turned the soft white fabric over in his hands, -They are tiny, look, they could fit a small child. Wait a minute…-

Suddenly he stared at her with wide eyes.

-Yeah…- Eighteen grinned, with loving eyes.

-No, you ... Really? Are you sure?-

Eighteen showed him the pregnancy test she had kept in store and on which two big, fat red lines stood out.

The future father felt the tears cloud his sight; he looked with a bewildered expression at that wonderful girl, eleven years his junior, who gave him one blessing a day, -Oh, how I love you!-

Krillin rubbed his forehead against his wife's; his hands instinctively ran to her belly. Eighteen held his hand and spoke three words just to hear their beautiful sound, not because they were necessary information, -We made it.-

Dreams could come true. One just had to live.

/

Thoughts of the author:

Okay I let myself go in the first part of this chapter! I dedicated a hot OS to Krillin and Eighteen, and I gave some sugar to my boy Seventeen here.

Here Eighteen was practically Santa Claus 😁 it's official, Marron is on the way! It amused me to write about Eighteen lifting Krillin as one picks up a child.

And don't listen to Seventeen, porridge is _good_! It's just Kate being master chef…joking aside, unlike her kids Kate is not superhuman and I always try to be realistic: she is a food mother but realistically, a single mum with (crazy) twins must often be in a rush...


	25. The MI Division

Once a year, the former capital of North Verny hosted a large fair where tourists and locals alike could buy local produce and crafts, and even watch demonstrations of ancient arts.

Brent had a stall with his hand-sewn clothes right next to his family's. His father made mead.

-The Geirssons are really a family of craftsmen!- Lillian smiled at him, genuinely admiring the way Brent's passion was something that had been passed on to him.

Just as Brent and Elliott were preparing to chat with Mr. Geirsson, Lillian got a call.

She took a breath, "Ahoy, Malinoski. How are things on the other side of the world?"

_"Things are okay. Rather, when will I see you around on these shores?"_

"Never. I don't know why you're still running after me: you wanted the n°1 RNP park ranger, whom I no longer am."

"_Which doesn't make you any less desirable. My offer still stands."_

"Thank you, Malina. But now I'm off your radar and I'm afraid I'll stay here. See you."

The former top ranger joined her friends, intent on observing an elderly lady carding wool with a comb.

Brent handed her a glass of mead, -Who was it, Lilli? It's Saturday night.-

-Malina Samuels of the _Southern Archipelago National Park._-

-Malina KS? The commander of the White Star?-

-Just her, Elliott.-

Elliott understood that Lillian couldn't just say _no_ to her, -That woman is in charge of a friggin' cruiser.-

-Yikes,- Brent broke in, perplexed, -What kind of poachers do they have down in the _SANP_?-

-More violent than here, obviously. Malina is super hardcore, while you guys aim guns she shoots cannonballs in their face.-

Elliott was a huge fan of Captain Klintsov-Samuels, whom he believed to be the most badass woman in the world.

Malina wanted Lillian to go and work for her.

-She'd like me to be part of a team that takes care of a new division of the park, but honestly I can't see it happening. It's not for me.-

Elliott used to participate discreetly in his ranger friends' discussions, but that night he almost overthrew his mead.

He was obviously aware of the last project Malina had collaborated in: the SANP had expanded and had populated a huge island with rare animals, some even looked like monsters:

-Are you kidding? The _MI_ division? It's not you they should ask for, if anything it's in the league of S- -

Brent wanted to keep Elliott from digging his own grave, telling Lillian the last thing she wanted to hear. He dragged him back to his stand.

-What did you say?- bellowed Lillian.

-... _Sssserious, _he said: _seriously tough people_, like you!-

Brent saved the situation at the last minute, with Lillian charging them like a mad bull.

-I would cry with joy if I were to work at the _MI_,- exhaled the paleontologist. -Here I dig for dead dinosaurs, while they have real ones down there.-

The three friends discussed how the rangers of that blessed island were practically military. The _MI division _was very different from the RNP: it was an area exclusively used as a sanctuary, inhabited only by animals and those who worked there. The signing bonus for rangers was a ridiculously high sum of zeni, but the island was still a risky and continually assaulted area. Malina Klintsov's second-in-command, a girl of Lillian's age, personally led the defence of the _MI_ both engaging guerrillas with poachers and coordinating animal welfare.

-Defiance De Villiers is the toughest ranger in the world,- Elliott declared thoughtfully.

Brent chuckled, -Tougher than our Seventeen?-

-Sev stomps that woman, by far. Trust me,- No one in the world could be more certain than Lillian.

_"To defend Sev, she must be jealous ..." _Brent laughed at Elliott's whisper.

Lillian tried to wrap it up, -… Anyway, every now and then the captain checks in if I don't want to jump ship. That's all.-

-If you say no to her and she continues it's harassment,- Brent sighed, -you have to tell John.-

-No it is not. I'll explain why another time.-

The boys nodded; they soon forgot the subject of _harassment _and spent the rest of the evening imagining a duel between their top ranger and the SANP's (or the cruiser).

/

He didn't know how to tell her. He had to say something, sooner or later it would be inevitable: it was better to get it over with immediately, but how to find the right words? He thought he had got used to it by now, as it would be the third time, but it was actually even harder. The first time there was Eighteen to back him up, facing Kate; with Lillian it had been almost funny, it had gone too smoothly. Now the stakes were very high and Seventeen was alone. He stared at nothing, sitting on the washing machine, occasionally shifting his gaze to the fogged glass pane of the bathroom door. Seventeen intended to speak to her as soon as Carly got out of there. He didn't know where to start: he had been kidnapped and turned into #17, he was irreversibly a cyborg, he had even slept with Lillian. He just wanted to be in peace, there at Carly's flat, with Carly curled up on him. Instead, he still had to dig up justifications and explanations.

-Are you okay, love?- Carly looked like a marshmallow, wrapped in several towels. Watching him brood with a dark, uneasy gaze, Carly worried.

-No I'm not. You must know everything, but I don't know what to say.-

Carly herself didn't know what to ask: she obviously wanted to know what had happened during those three years, but on the other hand having Lapis with her again, alive, was all she wanted. _How _didn't matter. She thought she had lost him forever, but it hadn't happened. Everything else was superfluous.

So the only thing she did was sit on the washing machine next to him. She grabbed his arm, kissed it, rubbed her face against it.

She stared with her sweet eyes in his sharp ones, -You don't have to say anything; just stay here with me…-

Seventeen felt in awe of that huge act of really cared about his well-being, more than her own; Carly was extraordinarily human, Carly _felt _before she understood. And it was precisely because of this that, in the end there was no escape, he had to tell her.

\- I don't _have to _, but _I want to_.-

-You have returned to stay, haven't you?-

-You make me feel good…-

In Lapis's language, that still meant_ yes, I want to be with you. _

That consistency between past and present filled Carly's heart and she found herself crying softly with joy. There were many questions she wanted to ask him, but only one tormented her.

-How come you call yourself _Seventeen_?-

-It concerns everything I need to talk to you about.-

Seventeen suddenly realised that if Carly knew that was the name he was going by, she must also know about Lillian. Lillian was the only link between #17 and Carly, and the cyborg refused to believe that Lillian hadn't told her about it. Snuggled against his heart Carly fingered his pectorals, looking at his Adam's apple and at the beautiful line of his jaw. -...I know about Lillian. I know you work with her, that she loathed you, you have no idea how many times I calmed her down; I encouraged her to congratulate you when you became top ranger, I also urged her to…-

Seventeen grabbed her shoulders, feeling her faint breath against the tip of his nose, -To?-

-To sleep with you. I had no idea... In any case Lillian is like a sister to me, if you respected her you respected me.-

Those words knocked down his wall once again; in the midst of his own confusion Seventeen had expected to have to handle more tears and frustration, perhaps even worse than that. But Carly had spared all this because she _understood_, and that was it.

His eyes widened, staring into the jade of hers, -So you don't hate me?-

Carly gave him a sudden hug; slowly she placed small kisses all over his face, she sucked and licked his lips.

Her eyes now shone, -Lapis, Seventeen, my true love: you are my whole life.- She could never hate him, what had happened with Lillian was a misunderstanding.

When Carly had connected the dots, just before while in the shower, instinct had made her feel a great anger towards Lillian but also towards Lapis. It had aroused other strong emotions that she had suppressed since Lapis had come back into her life with that phone call. It had been a set of emotions so strong that they had upset her, but once some tears were shed it all became clear: if Lillian had wanted to steal Lapis from her, why on earth would she throw him in her arms as soon as she'd put the puzzle together? Carly was enough of an adult to focus on what she'd just found, rather than crying over spilt milk.

The time to talk had come quietly, -So yes, you got the ranger job after the landslide. That has to do with your new name, hasn't it?-

He put his defences up again: even if he didn't know, it was the fear of being rejected by the only woman he really wanted, -...You can call me whatever the fuck you want, but now I'm cyborg 17: I have reactors and processors inside of me, planted by a madman who wanted to use me as a weapon and who took my life with you from me. I look just like you remind me, but now I am superhuman.- Carly shivered in front of his suddenly cold eyes, but understood that she had to become a pillar. With little time to think she acted instinctively: in that moment it was her turn to take command of the situation, to protect him. Something she would never have been capable of before life put her to the test. -I believe you: you can disintegrate landslides, you can keep going all night. But you are not something that I fear: I _want _to accept what happened to you because I want _you_. We must make the most of this situation, together.-

Well? What about questions like _"do cyborgs exist"_?Nothing was going according to his predictions; if Seventeen's first reaction was relief, anger took over.

Maybe for Carly it was all a joke, her simplism made him grit his teeth. -What are you still doing here, Carly, do you realise this is not a joke? All this is not a romantic fantasy, when the enchantment is over you will have to deal with reality: I am no longer the same.-

-...no one ever stays the same! Because life and the world change, people change. If you stiffen in the face of change, you die,- Carly stroked the invulnerable skin above his heart, looking at him with absolute love. -You are everything I love, especially in here. I feel _home _with you, even though I'm not the same either.-

In the end it was still _Carly and Lapis;_ they had only lived a little longer. Seventeen had returned, because cyborg or human he _knew _it was meant to be with her.

Carly went on, -You're afraid my words are dictated by instinct, aren't you? That tomorrow I'll wake up terrified of having you around? I ... I've never forgotten you, not even when the world told me to.-

She had cried again. For the fact that the worst was over and now she was holding again her Lapis, or Seventeen, it didn't matter.

And Seventeen was speechless, once again disarmed; Carly always managed to touch him in his humanity, hers was _unconditional love_. How to be capable of the highest form of love with so few certainties, with the deepest divide now separating them? Maybe what he didn't understand was that for Carly there was no divide.

Because she loved him.

She had _once again _chosen him for what he was, and what he was did not depend on _Lapis _or _Seventeen_.

Carly had expected a nervous breakdown from herself. Instead, she felt more ready than ever to cross that new threshold with him, -You've already shown me the advantages of not being completely human.-

Lapis laughed in that way she loved so much. Carly noticed that he had tied his hair with one of her hair ties. -New look?-

-Lazy look.-

Bad sign; it meant that the lengths were starting to bother him.

-I used to trim your hair sometimes. If you want, I have the good scissors at home.-

Safe in his woman's arms, Seventeen promised that little by little he would tell her about his whole adventure. And Carly reassured him, because they had all the time they wanted: they had a life to tell each other everything.

Lapis's phone rang, Carly felt him flinch in her arms. She leaned over to read the text message, placing her hands on his shaking wrists:

_"By September you will be an uncle. Ah, I left your present to your roommates." _

/

John summoned Lillian.

-Where the hell did Seventeen go? He disappeared without notifying anyone and left me high and dry.-

-John, Monday was his birthday. He must have taken a few days off.-

-And I'm okay with that. But if he had told me, I would have organised myself.-

They had gotten spoilt in the RNP. When it was needed to fix a crumbling bridge, for instance, John and Lillian had lost the habit of contacting various companies, because with Seventeen it wasn't needed. Just as they no longer had to worry about carrying out evacuations or defence against bad weather, Seventeen managed everything by himself.

-Forget it, John. I can make up for it.-

It was the second time Lillian had asked him to let go with Seventeen: they seemed to have buried the hatchet. However, Lillian felt stressed out to him. -It's nothing. Malina called me back and I told her no.-

John was a patient man, but that time he got furious. He dismissed Lillian and turned Skype on. He did not see the face of the captain, but of a beautiful young woman whose dark eyes and eyebrows conveyed an extreme ardor.

"Defiance, you wonderful woman to whom her boss always relegates the chore to talk to me."

"_Don't bullshit me, Dubochet, Malina is my partner. And right now she's out with the White Star. " _

Defiance never forgot to remind him of how Malina wasn't someone he wanted to antagonize.

"_Challenge _by name and in fact."

"_I carry my name with honour. I read your stats, nice job with security! Even if in the North raiders just play." _"Poachers, you mean."

"_Don't give me vocabulary lessons. You have problems with natural disasters, _poaching _sometimes, but the South is the real wild one: _poachers _swarm my MI day and night." _

"Defiance ... you belittle the RNP, but in the meantime you and Malina have tried again to snatch Lillian."

"_Lillian herself informed me that she is no longer the best in your ranks, but we're interested in the person and not in the title." _

"I want you two to stop harassing my apprentice immediately. She will never come to you if she doesn't want to. " _"Renewing the offer from time to time is not harassing." _

It was when it became continuous, "Tell the commander to not try again to poach my rangers."

_"Poach? Do you feel threatened by the competition? " _

The point was that there was no competition: SANP-MI and RNP shared the same purpose, to preserve a legacy. And Lillian was a Northerner, she cared a lot about her land and wouldn't have given it up without a steely reason. Defiance's eyes looked like glowing coals, even though her face was calm. _"… So I suppose that, when Lillian considered the transfer to the SANP last October there was a steely reason. It is therefore not persecution, if the request is made by Lillian herself. One last thing: the universe wants her here, not me. Coming to protect Monster Island is her destiny." _

Young Defiance gave Malina's greetings to John and disconnected the call.

/

-What the heck, Lillian? I looked like a fool because of you. You made me complain to Defiance for their behaviour when you first contacted them! Why didn't you come and tell me you wanted to leave the RNP?-

Lillian had never really wanted to leave her homeland.

-You made me expose myself to Malina, you made me throw unfounded accusations. Why did you want to leave?-

-Irrelevant now. It was months ago.-

-No, Lillian. You should have told ME, your boss. Or even Leni, MY boss. You made us fall from the sky and now I can't defend you.-

-I don't need to be defended!-

John thought about the timeline of those events: October, October ... Ahh! -Lillian,-

The girl stopped at the door.

-...did you want to leave because you felt replaced by Seventeen?-

She held her breath, it always hurt to admit it. Very badly.

-...yes.-

-And why didn't you come to me and talk about it?-

-Coming to you crying like a little brat, telling to your face '_I'm going because this place doesn't need me anymore'_? Telling you honestly that I will never have any hope of being the best again?-

-...but you _are_ the best for me.-

The girl gasped. Yes, she had heard it: John had just said the words she had craved for nearly three years, which she had given up by now.

-No, not anymore.-

-I don't care about the title. Do you know who I've always thought of appointing as my successor? You, Lillian.-

-But …-

-No "buts". You were already thinking of the boy, huh? Then listen to me: when he comes down to play he takes it all, hands down, but who does he take orders from? FROM ME. If I want a _bomb_ I appoint them to _top ranger_, and Seventeen is _the _bomb. But if I want a leader, then I'll put them as _chief_ ranger. And it would have been you, after me.-

Seventeen was still unreliable, it would have been irresponsible to give him a position of command; but Lillian...John had raised her from day one with the intention of making her chief ranger, one day. For John, Lillian was always the first choice.

-However I can't do it now, you don't trust me. And neither do I trust you anymore. Retirement will wait, I'm still needed here.-

/

Eighteen fondly stroked the billowing sky blue satin dress Sara had bought for her, enjoying the image the mirror gave back to her. Sara had personally chosen the bridesmaids' dresses and if that detail had made Eighteen nervous when she had learnt it from Sara, seeing herself floating in that hue made for her had instead shown Eighteen that Sara really knew her. That was perhaps the most beautiful dress Eighteen had ever worn, a splendid gift to thank her. The bride-to-be looked at her dreamily: -Wow, what a goddess. And it's perfect for you even off the rack,-

Sara walked into the living room in her house, rocking Amelia. -I'm glad you like the dress, I'm sorry I told you my plans so late; everything has been hectic since Bruno came back , thank you for being my maid of honour anyway.-

Eighteen thought back to Bruno's violent death and felt again that anger that had made her tear Cloe Mafia to pieces. Sara had been really convinced that Bruno was dead, so during that time she had stopped organising their wedding. Then Bruno had returned, daily life had taken over and Sara had found herself sending invitations to her two bridesmaids in February, three months before the wedding.

-No sweat, I'm late on my schedule too.-

Eighteen didn't have the faintest idea about the duties of the maid of honour. She and Sara had met to brainstorm, as even the future Mrs. Weiss would soon be taking that same role. Eighteen had just finished compiling a list of clubs, -How about this one? With "firemen" and champagne.-

Sara winked at her, -Firefighters for my hen's do, Laz? I already have my man in uniform.-

-Yes but he's not a stripper!- Eighteen thought of Krillin: would he have liked to wear a uniform and pretend to arrest her?

-And so you live by the sea, what a dream!-

Eighteen shrugged: really, what a dream the Kame House was! With Roshi and the uncountable roommates. But she didn't bite the hand that fed her: in the end, she was lucky. An imperceptible and shy smile appeared on her face, -There is only one thing, Sara. I won't be able to drink with you, neither at the hen's do nor at the wedding.-

-Of course you will! You'll be dead drunk with Lacey and me.-

-No. _I can't drink _.-

-What is it, are you pregnant?-

Sara was joking, but Lazuli looked at her in a way that made her take Amelia to bed, run back to the living room and cheer.

-I'll give you some advice, then: don't go looking for your dress now, go when you have the giant bump, it will be easier. Oh my God...mama Lazuli!-

Sara tried to beat around the bush, hugging her best friend. She had listened to her open-mouthed when Lazuli had confessed to her about the elopement with Krillin, this myth of a man who had won Lazuli over and whom she _had_ to meet, absolutely. She and Lazuli had grown up so much: from bad girls to wives and mothers of families. But this, now: Lazuli was expecting…

Lazuli looked so happy, she really had wanted that child. When she had met Lazuli again at the _Star of the Centre _Sara had feared for her. She had feared Lazuli would get in trouble again, that she wouldn't calm down. Instead Lazuli was finally ready for a healthy and peaceful life. Sooner or later everyone needed it, no one could live forever on a tightrope. Now Sara almost felt compelled to be a mentor for Lazuli, through that new adventure, -If you need anything, just ask me, I've already been there.-

-Everything?- Eighteen observed Sara nodding ceremoniously, -Would I be gross if I asked you for crisps and chilli jam?-

-Absolutely. Stay here, I'll go to the mini market down the street to get the jam.-

Sara hugged the future mother once again and left her alone in the house with Amelia. Eighteen had been hugged by Sara at least a dozen times. But it didn't bother her. In fact, it felt good.

/

Thoughts of the author:

In this chapter we have :

\- **Seventee **who is still facing his past but is surprised by Carly's love.

\- **Eighteen **having a nice peaceful time with Sara. In chapter 13 she had suffered seeing how Sara's life had progressed while she, because of Gero, had had no personal growth. Here the two girlfriends reflect on their progress.

\- **John **the chief ranger revealing his plans for Lillian. For him Lill is always the best, even if she is not as efficient as Seventeen; I thought that in real life there are other metrics than the "technical" skills to consider how much someone is worth. John is right, now Seventeen is not yet as mature as we see in Super: even if he beats the competition he is still reckless and unreliable, Lillian instead is trustworthy and has more experience. Then there is an element that for now seems out of context, but which acts as a foreshadowing to future events, the **MI division **: I think you all know what it is. For a while we will see Monster Island as it was "pre Seventeen". And the current head MIR, I picture her Rambo/Lara Croft style. I laughed at my own writing when Elliott and Brent, like the good geeks they are, imagine Seventeen VS cruiser 😅 (For me Sev takes it; he would sink the ship). Defiance currently occupies the position Seventeen will occupy in Super and she will be the link between him and Monster Island. She insists on Lillian, even though the RNP ranger with the name in L who will save things is not Lillian!


	26. On the Razor's Edge

Bulma was examining the latest scans of Sixteen's "brain".

Her own head always reeled trying to understand something, even though he was the very android she had already worked on. With that jumble of complicated circuits, Bulma had to conduct at least two scans at a time to record them all.

Sixteen watched her from the Capsule Corp. lab like the time the Briefs family first fixed him.

-So you say you want to get stronger. You want an upgrade.-

-It's correct.-

-This is _kachi katchin_, one of the strongest materials in our universe. Not only is it a great conductor, but papa and I think it can fit in well with your core.-

Sixteen saw the scientist woman handle long shiny strands, as thin as human hair. Bulma intended to incorporate them into his "brain", they would improve processor performance and speed up his reaction time.

-I even have got a kachi katchin knife,- Bulma winked, -to cut your skin. If that doesn't work, I don't know what we can do.-

The lab's super-focused lasers hadn't worked; Bulma was pleased to see that the kachi katchin worked on the skin of the artificial human, she instinctively wondered if it also worked on the cyborgs.

Sixteen didn't know what to expect from that upgrade. Bulma Briefs had told him that if he didn't get better, it wouldn't hurt anyway.

So without feeling pain, the android let the scientist carry on with her work.

/

It was already 1 in the morning.

In the Central City district a pretty country estate still rang with cheerful music. One could also hear it in the orchards, carried by the sweet air of May.

-I don't really know how to thank you. You were the perfect maid of honour, I don't know what to say…-

Mrs. Weiss had given up doing her make-up one more time. Shortly before she had cried again, during the first dance with her husband Bruno, and now she was about to do it sitting on a bench with Lazuli.

-I had a good time, Sara. Now I'm counting on you.-

The bride stood looking at her own voluminous skirt, the hem a little creased from the happy and eventful day. Sixteen, whom Bruno had insisted on inviting, was probably running after Amelia, their husbands were still there dancing with the other guests; it was a moment only for her and for her best friend: Sara watched Lazuli smile, sitting next to her on that bench.

Eighteen was also happy. The Weiss' wedding had been an absolutely peaceful moment, and she and Krillin both dreamed when they saw the decked room, the ornate gardens of that estate hired for the day; Eighteen felt a nostalgia she could not name seeing Sara walk down the aisle arm in arm with her father, a sweet music marking her last steps as a maiden. She watched them, a step or two behind them, as they exchanged complicit smiles.

Right now Eighteen was just looking for relief from the crowded environment that had been after the ceremony. She enjoyed the cool breeze on her swollen red feet.

-You still hungry? I can barely keep my eyes open.-

Watching her balance a heaped plate on her belly, Sara wondered how that Lazuli girl could eat so much food. When she was expecting Amelia she had had her killer cravings, but Lazuli...

-If I don't eat every twenty minutes then I am left on an empty stomach, and that's when I'm more likely to be sick,- cut short the maid of honour. -My metabolism is _very _fast.-

Eighteen hoped that Sara would not ask her why and how, she didn't feel like explaining that if she was a cyborg, her baby was entirely human: she had to keep it alive inside of her. Eighteen herself couldn't stand eating all the time: it made her feel like a cow, and once in two she ended up vomiting all the same.

But the worst was still fasting.

Sometimes she wondered if she was the same #18 who had woken up in a laboratory without hunger, thirst, or fatigue.

When she had fallen pregnant, Eighteen had believed that in the months to come she would feel next to nothing, but instead she had found out that growing a human being was no cakewalk for her either. Every now and then she had something on her mind: she knew Seventeen had been reunited with his red-haired girl, she hoped he'd be careful.

The cyborg girl had resigned herself to all her troubles, she tried to accept them serendipitously, only a few months before she had begged to become a mother. It was easy to forget the ardor of her desire when ailments plagued her. She was also getting used to seeing her body change; she was now in the fifth month and it was strange to see that belly grow week after week. At the Kame House Eighteen spent hours in front of the mirror, in various poses. She thought she was always beautiful even if she did not find the protruding belly button sexy, it could also be seen from under the satin dress. Before the ceremony, while they were getting ready, she had complained to Krillin.

He had looked at the haughty-faced maid of honour who could distract everyone from the bride, crowned by the silver-gold of her hair and majestic in that blue drapery... with that bump and the little dot of her belly button peeking from under her dress. She looked _lovely_; and she was his wife.

Krillin had stayed there with her to caress her, to feel their baby kick.

Eighteen was very receptive to any sensation and felt distinctly when the baby turned over, whether it was a kick or a hand. The doctor she was in care of, in Satan City, had told her that one would usually feel the baby moving later.

However, no normalwoman had Eighteen's sensitivity.

In the end, apart from the usual annoyances, everything was fine with her pregnancy.

So Eighteen felt a strange fear slowly make its way into every fibre of her body when, returning to the party hall, an insidious pain suppressed her breath in her chest and forced her to slow down, to sit on the dirt road.

Sara was running skirts hitched-up; she stopped when she saw her best friend crouched on the ground: she hoped she wasn't puking on her shoes, and felt tempted to make a joke.

But all trace of playfulness disappeared from her face as Lazuli sat up and Sara saw what not even the night could hide: the sky-blue skirt was changing colour.

Lazuli looked at Sara with a bewildered, terrified expression, a silent question without interlocutors.

_"Why?"_

All the joy from earlier was gone. Sara shuddered when a shiver seized Lazuli's body and seemed to take the brilliance out of her eyes. The more the minutes passed, the darker the dress grew.

Sara had to do something, she had to ask for help. She started to speak but was interrupted.

-Sixteen ... call for Sixteen!-

Eighteen wanted to skip what she was experiencing, forward it, not remember it. She wished she could pass out, cut herself off from that moment and spare herself all the pain she could; but she was perfectly awake and lucid.

She saw everything.

She felt everything.

She couldn't control her breathing and every gulp of air seemed to choke her.

Waiting for Sara to come back with help, Eighteen frowned and curled up, voiceless, in a pool of blood.

/

Opening the door of her house to a continuous and desperate knock, Bulma found Krillin. His face was red from his flight and the effort to contain a violent worry:

-Bul, help us …-

The scientist peeked in astonishment over the threshold, behind her friend: she saw Sixteen, tall and silent as a tower, she saw the unscratchable Eighteen clutched to his chest, blood-soaked towels between her legs.

The android had flown carrying Eighteen and Krillin, so fast that the cool night air had frozen on them. Bulma watched that trio as if hypnotized; when the girl she thought fainted let out a gasp and more blood dripped onto Sixteen's suit, that slight trance broke.

She had them follow her in the lab:

-Papa, hurry! Come down!-

The old doctor ran to his daughter's calls, -Bulma, what's going on?-

He arrived in his lab with sleep in his step, but when he saw a young woman in seemingly very serious conditions, he snapped out of it.

Watching Sixteen stretch Eighteen on a cot, Bulma pulled on her gown and gloves and prepared the supplies for the surgery. She spoke to devastated Krillin almost in a whisper:

-There's no time, I know what is happening. I have to sew up the mouth of her womb if you want to save the baby, there is not a minute to lose. I have a chance in a hundred, at the moment Eighteen cannot consent: will you give me your consent to proceed?-

The Briefs weren't gynaecologists, but they were the smartest scientists Krillin knew: if they could design objects that shrunk and fit into capsules, as well as be familiar with Dr. Gero's work, Krillin had to give them a chance. He saw the old Dr. Briefs covering Eighteen with a green sheet and handling strange, shiny stiff threads.

One in a hundred. What did they have to lose, after all?

-Save the baby, Bulma. But please, don't hurt Eighteen.-

/

Sixteen stared at his bright red-streaked suit, and once again his circuits struggled to untangle information that was heavier than simple input from his optical sensors.

_"Blood ... I've never seen all this blood."_

He found himself formulating a thought that never reached his artificial larynx: that Seventeen never saw that.

That he never saw the lab floor nor his suit, stained with his sister's blood.

Eighteen had always known that she loved her baby but only in that moment did she realise how crazy, how immeasurable that love was.

_"Why to me."_

What had she done? Had she flown too high, had she eaten too much or too little food?

Bulma had watched as Eighteen, lying on a bed, was preparing herself to the surgery with an absent and tired look:

-Eighteen,...your whole body has overwhelming strength, your muscles are very powerful. The uterus is a muscle, and the small contractions that you normally have every day, in your case are so strong that you're already pushing out your baby. I was afraid it might happen, and now I have to reattach the placenta and suture your cervix; I'll do it with these.-

It had been a blessing that Bulma had the kachi katchin threads and tools on hand, which she had used with Sixteen a few days earlier.

And it was probably thanks to that upgrade that he had requested so eagerly that the trio had been able to cover the distance between the two capitals in record time.

-This is our only hope. Take heart, little Lazuli.-

Touching her hand, Bulma spoke to her woman to woman. Bulma, who a year earlier had proudly built the remote with which Krillin was supposed to shut that girl down.

It would not have been properly killing but immobilizing her, taking her conscience away; deprive her of the opportunity to live. Maybe yes, in a way it was like killing her...

The Briefs had operated non-stop for twenty hours, squabbling with the pregnant woman's almost impenetrable tissues.

Eighteen felt pain; she ignored what hurt more, that needle touching her living flesh or glimpsing the doctors' hands all covered in her blood.

She hated herself with the power with which, in another timeline, she was programmed to hate _life_.

She was just a delusion, she was really convinced she had made it ...She had earned her serenity, always remaining one of the strongest warriors on Earth. She had married the love of her life, she had conceived a child of her own, but in the end she was _cyborg 18_: she gave death, not life. She was no longer Lazuli.

Her body was designed to kill, no matter who. A murderous, ruthless body she could not be rid of.

And at that moment, her body was killing _her baby_.

Everything crumbled inside her in the face of the terrible, inexorable truth.

Was there anything worse than being torn apart, rebuilt, changed, brainwashed by Gero, devoured and spat out by a monster?

She had killed that child without even trying, because ultimately killing was the only language her cyborg body understood: that was so much worse.

Eighteen could no longer feel that fluttering inside of her, she had grown so fond of it...

Although Dr. Briefs announced at the end of the surgery that her tissues were holding the _kachi katchin _stitches excellentlyand that the bleeding had been stopped, Eighteen felt completely destroyed.

/

Krillin had sat in a small room adjacent to the lab all along. He could only see his wife's face, emerging from the surgical sheet.

Krillin hadn't even got up to have a drink or to relieve himself. He wanted to be there with her, looking into her eyes, kissing her lips and holding her.

There were other times he had been afraid for her. When Cell had flown over those islands, looking for her; when he had jumped on her, throwing him aside like a gnat; when Cell had regurgitated her and to the others she had just been a dead something they didn't expect to see again. And he, heedless of those present, had gone to pick her up from the ground, hoping that everyone was dead wrong.

And now his Eighteen was wounded. He wanted desperately to carry some of her pain. All Krillin could do was be strong, for himself and especially for her.

Bulma found him against the wall with clenched fists.

-Krillin...Papa and I gave her a super reinforced cerclage. The haemorrhage exhausted her, she needs to rest.-

Krillin knew Eighteen's accelerated recovery rate had already solved that problem. If she was resting it was because she wanted to, but the first thought that Krillin had, was that he would give his own blood if it served to save her and ...

-The baby?-

-We don't know,- Bulma rubbed a red eye. -Papa is going to get the ultrasound machine, we didn't have one here. But from what I saw the amniotic sac was intact, and you are the strongest full-blooded human in the world. Maybe the child is like you.-

Bulma was afraid to speculate. If she was wrong, and there was a chance that she could be, it would cause Krillin even more pain.

Krillin wept. He hadn't wanted to do it in front of Eighteen, but he could no longer suppress the pain.

/

Eighteen had wanted to rest amongst clean sheets and silence, even though she hadn't slept after the operation.

Occasionally she saw Krillin and Sixteen watching her; she wanted to talk to them and felt ready to leave the lab on her own, but first of all she needed a moment to herself.

The pain of the stitches had long since subsided; she kept rubbing her stomach, always as round as it should be, hoping to feel something. However, in that state of extreme agitation, adrenaline dulled her sensitivity and she knew it.

She just had to wait for Dr. Briefs to return with the device.

When he got back, Krillin and Sixteen followed him into the lab. It was like the first time, when the gynaecologist in Satan City had pulled her pants down to show them the baby, then an indistinguishable mark in a black and white jungle.

This time it was no longer a mark. Eighteen and Krillin held their breath as Dr. Briefs showed them something that looked like the outline of a little head.

-Is there a sound button, Dr. Briefs?- Krillin sighed. -If you press a button...you can hear the heartbeat.-

Eighteen hoped with all her heart to hear that other little heart; when Dr. Briefs found the right button and a loud, rhythmic noise filled the room, a tear blurred her vision.

The baby was safe. She herself was safe.

Krillin hugged her tightly and Eighteen felt a deep joy invade her. That was the most beautiful sound in the world...

With a great sigh of relief, the cyborg girl relaxed on the bed and fell into a well-deserved sleep.

/

Sixteen was looking now at the ultrasound machine tucked away in a corner, now at his friend's belly. He couldn't understand.

-What is it, Sixteen?-

Krillin smiled at him, his face still red from the great weeping.

-What was it on the monitor?-

Krillin did not know what explanation to give Sixteen. How do you explain procreation to an android?

-That was...another human being, waiting to be born.-

The artificial human was unaware of Eighteen wielding that ability, his gaze filled with absolutely real dismay, -Eighteen absorbed a human being?-

/

-So, is this his definition of _being ok_?-

Elliott glanced sideways at the girl sitting next to him.

-Eh, no, it isn't.-

She was all dressed up, with high heels and neatly braided hair, a slice of pizza in hand and smudged lipstick; she wasn't in the mood for chit-chat, she looked at the TV without watching.

Elliott took another slice of pizza from the coffee table and looked at his host: she was pretty, no doubt.

Not his type, but very pretty.

What was his type, after all? Maybe he didn't even have a type ...

-You guys are going out tonight?-

Normally Carly was polite, even when it bothered her, but that night she was nervous and having to chat with Lapis' roommate at 11 pm was getting on her nerves. She had no other option:

-If Sev hurries up...Tell me again, Elliott, how come you are roommates?-

-Brent and I had already lived here for two years. But since there was room and Sev was new and looking for a place,...-

Carly had expected to find Brent too, but apparently he was out. He had _finally _taken Lillian on a date.

-...for me she won't give it to him tonight, I told him not to have expectations.- Elliott laughed.

Ah. Lillian had gone on a date with the Viking and hadn't told her about it ...

-Well, Carly, the last time she wanted to talk to you you slapped her face! Why, then?-

_Shortly after Lapis-Seventeen's identity was revealed, Lillian had invited Carly to Viey for a chat: _

_"...I have to tell you something."_

_Carly had noticed that Lillian had turned as white as a ghost. Her melanine-rich eyes had grown veiled with a layer of tears impossible to hide. She had burst into tears like a child:_

_"I slept with your man."_

_Well, Lillian had passed the test: she had never plotted any subterfuge behind Carly's back._

_"I know, Lillian. Thanks for telling me anyway."_

_Carly had been waiting for Lillian to stop crying. No, she wasn't cross; yes, they would be friends like before. _

_But before returning to North City, Carly had jumped to give Lillian a symbolic slap on that big mouth of hers._

_"Hey?! Where does this come from?"_

_The former top ranger had looked at her in shock, brushing her lip. Part of her was almost proud to see _the cupcake_ stand up for herself to defend __her territory__. _

_Carly had laughed, "No hard feelings, but I had to: Lapis is _mine _." _

-Nothing. Girls' stuff. -

-Anyway, Lillian says you're Sev's girlfriend, but …-

Carly knew where Elliott was headed:

-I am; we just took a break.-

They had said so to anyone who had asked. Luckily no one (except Lillian) had investigated their history and Lapis must have said little about them all the time he had been there.

Better that way.

Lapis had been distant all day; Carly had extorted from him that he was having a bad feeling, he himself could not say what it was about.

The vet had implemented the distraction strategy and told him _"Drop everything, we're going out tonight."_

She had gone up to Saint-Paul full of panache, but when Elliott had opened the door for her she had seen that Lapis was not in the least ready to leave.

_"Are you ok, babe?"_

Seventeen was visibly uneasy, and also very convinced that Carly and Elliott wouldn't notice.

_"Yeah I'm ok."_

With those three words and the human warmth of a grave, he had ditched Carly with Elliott and holed up in his room.

Seventeen was pissed, it bothered him to feel that way: it was digging in his subconscious, uncontrollable and unjustifiable.

While Elliott and Carly were having dinner, the cyborg had lain on his bed looking nervously now at the ceiling, now at Eighteen's present: for his birthday she had given him a switchblade, like Lillian's (which he had broken).

Yeah, he still had to buy one for her...

Seventeen played with it, his gaze captured by the cold shiny handle, of the most beautiful shade of blue. He pressed it to his heart.

_"In case you don't get it, the handle is lapis lazuli."_

It was all Eighteen had written on the birthday card. Seventeen had recognised the gemstone immediately and touching the precious handle, he had the impulse to take his cell phone and type. He didn't have time to finish, a text message arrived and he opened it feverishly:

_I'm fine._

A second text, _"I love you" _came shortly after, as if Eighteen had hesitated but then decided to send it to him.

Seventeen felt that knot in his chest loosen. He dropped back onto the bed, eyes closed, feeling momentarily short of his infinite energy.

But it was no longer worry or anger, it was relief.

Seventeen glanced briefly in the mirror, licked his thumb, and ran it over a dishevelled brow: now he was impatient to take his girlfriend out.

He smiled as he wrote a simple but exhaustive answer on his cell phone:

_Now, I'm fine too._

/

Thoughts of the author:

And in this Lazuli-centric chapter, let's hear it for BULMA! What a hero, she saved Marron's life...

The material she uses is the one making up the cubes that Goku and Gohan train with in the Buu Saga (if I remember correctly) and the surgery she performs, cervical cerclage, is a real thing that serves that purpose.

Context is another hypothesis of mine on 18's physiology. It comes natural to think that 17 and 18 barely feel anything, but apart from the fact that (as Cell VS 17 or their fights in Super show us, like when 18 sprains her ankle or when Toppo dislocates 17's shoulder) they do feel pain, for me it's proportional: their body is enhanced and they certainly have a higher threshold; but if they have, like, muscular contractions these are also stronger (the muscle being stronger itself). Also counting that their senses are superhuman, it makes sense to me that they feel pain.


	27. How I met our Mother

Carly was hired again by the RNP before summer began: Leni gave her the same contract as the year before, even though the vet was nearing the end of her studies and she couldn't work in the Royal Nature Park until November. The final academic year would start earlier and finish later, in between there would be a dissertation, a graduation and a move to either Viey or Saint-Paul.

That was the final stretch, the last mile to run before closing that rich chapter that had been university.

That (paid!) summer internship would be her last, but this time Carly knew that a permanent contract would be waiting for her: not only had she deserved it, she had really earned it.

Fortunately she would have lived with Lillian for the time of the internship; the former top ranger couldn't wait, she missed Carly...When Leni had told her, she had jumped with joy.

-Even if we had a fight, just so you know that I will always support you and be proud of your successes.- Leni smiled at her, as Carly signed the contract.

-Leni, I'm sorry. For last year…-

The executive knew that Carly had been dating Seventeen for a while. They were a de facto couple.

_"So much for not shagging rangers..."_

Leni didn't say it aloud, but she was glad to see that she was right, that punk was really the guy for Carly, as she had always thought.

The executive had had her doubts about Seventeen, but in any case she trusted Carly's judgment: if she was with him, deep down (very deep) he must not be the bad boy he looked like. Both seemed to be making each other happier.

Carly hadn't told her the whole story yet, but she promised herself that one day she would. Leni was always one of her best friends, in the end.

On her way back to Verny's Wildlife Clinic, Carly was off to a flying start: on the first day she had just had time to slip on her white gown, that a battered but living hawk was brought to her. Tourists had heard it fall over their trailer.

-So you're a zoologist, like John's wife?-

-No, a vet.-

Carly put on her glasses and motioned for Lapis to sit down. But he wanted to look at the hawk, as he thought that for once things had been easy and that it was a small world: Carly too working in the RNP was the happiest coincidence, what were the odds?

He was almost sure Carly had wanted to be a paediatrician, but he was glad she had changed her mind: meeting him there was her destiny.

The hawk had been shot with the intention of killing it; Carly clicked her tongue, expertly injecting a local anaesthetic.

-Shitty poachers, seriously!-

Seventeen stood by Carly's side, curiously watching her stitch up the wing of the small bird of prey, torn apart by a bullet. The hawk looked back at her, rolling nervously two almost human eyes.

-A little more patience.-

The bird closed its eyes as Carly stroked its little head with her finger.

The cyborg was struck by the care and love with which Carly did her job. If it had been him he would have done it with his usual conciseness and efficiency, but Carly was in no hurry; she properly cuddled those beasts.

Seventeen instinctively remembered what he had _always _thought : that she would make a good mother.

Carly saw his features soften, -What's up?-

Seventeen felt like stroking the hawk as she was doing. With a smile Carly took his hand and guided his gestures, -Easy. Like this.-

The animal let its guard down when it felt that the other biped also had a delicate touch.

Carly was distracted by Lapis' tanned and sweaty arms, left uncovered by the sleeveless shirt.

-So if the madman did what he did for the sole purpose of getting that guy killed, aren't you technically a terminator? Not _the __Terminator_, but-

-Will you stop?-

Lapis's clenched mouth betrayed his calm voice. Was he getting mad at her?

-I don't get it, you can joke and talk about it whenever you feel like, but I can't?-

-Precisely.-

-All right…-

Carly knew the depth of her feelings, but in those last few months she had surprised herself: what she had for him was an unlimited love that allowed her to see beyond herself and her limits. Something that even went beyond empathy, complicity, orgasm, even beyond the concept of love. It was almost mystical.

Of course. It was Lapis, the most important part of her life.

That was why Carly understood when he asked her to call him _Seventeen _, and not to use _Lapis _with those who hadn't known him as a full human. She could grasp his dilemma, the fundamental difference he felt in himself after such an otherworldly experience. She hadn't doubted for a second that he was telling the truth. It made no sense rationally, but it was there to see. 

Even if she didn't show it, Carly was always anxious to learn more about him being a cyborg; however it was always Lapis who decided how and when to talk about it. He was keeping his promise:

-You have no idea what I saw. The Earth is full of monsters, terrors and dangers. Every day the human race faces extinction due to aliens, creatures and enemies who want to destroy the planet. I'm not the only one who can fly, there's a whole group of warriors out there defending the Earth. Eighteen married one.-

This was what Lapis had told her last night, sitting side by side outside a bar in downtown Verny.

-Are you telling me that some of them are aliens too?-

-Yup.-

-Do you want to join them too? Like Eighteen?-

-No, I'm fine here. For a moment I ceased to exist: now, here with you I'm living.-

Things had never been better for him.

Carly thought it was her love that allowed her to understand things otherwise inconceivable to the human mind, the existence of a parallel and incredible world. It wasn't something she was willing to share with other "mere humans", not even with Leni or her beloved father. Lapis had done the same: Kate and Lillian only knew that he was now a cyborg, the tip of the iceberg.

Carly considered herself privileged, if nothing else, to have such an understanding of the world. Seventeen had come to regard his misadventure as a blessing of higher knowledge and, thanks to him, she too had access to it.

Seventeen watched her stitch up the wound and cut the thread, -Ah, what a cringe…-

The stitches Carly had sewn into the bird's skin were so uneven.

-I did them well...-

-No, look at the gaps between each stitch: this one 3 mm, this other 8 mm! Look.-

She just needed Lapis scanning and criticising all her work, -...And how can you tell me?-

Seventeen looked at her slyly.

Ah, right. Nothing was to escape his super enhanced optic nerves. Carly looked into his eyes, wondering if they were super accurate cameras.

But hers was a job well done, even if it wasn't perfect to the millimetre.

-What are those, Easter eggs for bad kids?-

Carly watched Lapis handle life-size wooden eggs, fashioned to appear life-like, -No, I'll have to put them in an eyrie.-

Replacing unfertilised eggs with facsimiles, so that the eagles would not lay more and create an imbalance in the number of eaglets born each year was a common practice.

-I have to prepare for going up to the nest. This is my first time and Louisa needs to call a helicopter.-

-Grab yourself the wooden eggs. Let's go up now.-

/

_"Move, move, move!"_

Lillian was jumping on a boulder, stamping her feet as if she really wanted to make it move; why couldn't she move it?

Michel had sounded quite pissed when he had spoken to her over the phone, an hour earlier: the first thought she had had was "how come Michel has got my number?".

As she approached his alpine pasture, Lillian remembered. She was on his wife's customer list, she often bought butter and cheese from them...

-It looks like you want to move the boulder with your feet.-

Michel appeared to Lillian at that moment, she felt very embarrassed:

-Something like that…-

The man handed her some photographs, -This morning I went here behind to Pessy, to graze my cows. Except I couldn't. The mountain has come down on the meadow...Please get everything cleared up as soon as possible, I can't afford to go all the way to North City to find a pasture.-

Leafing through the photos with a furrowed brow, Lillian hardly recognized the Pessy plain. She hadn't gone there since last winter, but the slope that Michel had photographed looked more like a scree than like a pasture.

-Michel, why do you need me? What can I do?-

-...have this mess cleaned up! You're the one people call, for troubleshooting.-

-Wrong, you need the top ranger for this; no, it's not me.-

Lillian tore off a piece of an old map she found in her backpack. She remembered the demo Seventeen had given her by hitting a rock facade up at the Pessy plain.

_"Call the top ranger, this on him." _

Lillian scribbled on the paper and handed it Michel, -This is my colleague's number,- she giggled to herself. -Here, call him. If you want to stay and watch, bring popcorn.-

/

-Hey don't let me fall! Closer, my arms are short…-

Carly shuffled her feet in the cosmic void beneath her, replacing the last egg in the tangle of twigs, feathers, and bones that was the eyrie of their oldest giant alpine eagle, Chicken.

_Chicken _wasn't there, but her name was familiar to Seventeen.

-No, I won't let you fall.-

The cyborg gripped his human's waist tighter, she let out a strangled cry and kicked him.

Not all eyries were in such locations, Louisa had actually told Carly to wait before doing that job. When Lapis had picked her up and carried her up there, Carly had thought it was a bad idea, but now she was starting to like it; her superior would have appreciated that everything had already been done, before the helicopter was even booked.

-If Louisa asks you how you did it, then blame it on me,- Lapis winked at her, momentarily removing an arm from her waist to brush a piece of hair out of his mouth.

-Ah! Hold me! Are you doing it on purpose?!-

Carly was having fun, after all. She had anticipated that Lapis could fly, but being up there with him was something else: hearing him say it hadn't prepared her.

Now Carly wanted them to do it every day. Never in her life had she imagined that one day she would fly, carried by her beau. It was the height of romance...she had to tell Lillian. In the end, it was good that Lillian also knew that Lapis was a cyborg, she could discuss it, laugh at it or even cry about it with someone!

"_When he confessed to me, he almost teleported me to the top of Mt. Severny without saying anything. I was shocked. "_

Now Carly could no longer look at the spire looming over Viey without thinking of Lapis and Lillian taking a stroll in the snow.

-So when you feel like it you just go up in the sky and then dive down?-

Carly was done with the eyrie. She clung to Lapis's chest like a koala.

-Sometimes. It's relaxing.-

She assumed it was. She kept clinging to Lapis who, instead of down, carried her up. Eyes sparkling and lopsided smile on, Seventeen set Carly on top of the cliff and then inhaled as much air as he could.

-...We have to get down!- she interrupted him.

-But I want to do one thing!- he scolded her.

Carly looked out at the wide open valley before them, then watched Lapis noisily take another breath of air.

_"Oh no ... what is he doing now?"_

-Yodelay-hee-hoo!-

_Yodelayheehoo, yodelayheehoo _repeated the echo. Carly had expected embarrassing words, or a giant burp. In the end, _Seventeen _was always _very Lapis. _

-Well, now you are a stereotypical mountaineer, happy? Let's go down.-

That was all the cyborg needed to hear: he grabbed Carly and pulled her legs around his waist, running until he took off, swooping from the top of the cliff.

He laughed heartily as Carly screamed, her voice distorted by the speed of the flight. Carly screamed until Lapis began to glide, only then she saw the greatest show: the landscape below them as eagles must see it. It filled her with sparkle.

But Seventeen hadn't realised that maybe she wasn't made to fly that fast; when they finally hit the ground and got in the car, Carly fell long and flat in the back seat.

/

-So are you coming to my place tonight? Lillian will be at work,- Carly hugged Lapis and kissed him, before getting out of the car.

-I'll be here around nine. Oh…- Lapis answered his cell phone hastily. -I have to go up to the Pessy plain.-

Seventeen left Carly near the cross that marked the entrance to Viey and she walked down the lane lined with potato patches, accompanied by a growing shouting. There was a large house attached to Viey's church, a place where camps and groups from all over the world occasionally came on stays such as winter holidays.

Carly saw children and teenagers everywhere, in the courtyard strewn with tufts of grass, on the large wooden balcony, near the fountain-sink. Right there was a little boy who caught Carly's attention; he moaned and whimpered, circling the tub.

Carly walked over and noticed a toy truck on the dark stone bottom. The child looked at her too. He gaped as she smiled at him and plunged her arm into the water.

-Robin, come here. Leave the young lady alone.-

A woman came up and tenderly encircled his small shoulders.

-Here it is.- Carly handed him the toy truck, shaking it to dry it.

-Say thanks to the young lady.-

Robin looked at Carly with an ecstatic smile, -Thank you miss! Weren't you afraid to put your arm there?-

The woman, perhaps a teacher, said that Robin was afraid of the dark stone covered with a thin layer of algae.

Robin was a thin boy with brown curls . His eyes were deep and warm, like a puppy's, his cute little nose was sprinkled with freckles.

Carly caught him looking at hers, -Yes, see? I too have a lot of freckles.-

He was four, he told Carly with his fingers.

The teacher said they had arrived in the morning and thanked Carly again for having helped the boy. -Come on, dinner time. Say goodbye to the young lady.-

-Bye bye…-

Carly returned the greetings with amusement and headed home. She found Lillian intent on sipping a large drink, in front of the TV:

-What are you doing tonight?-

-Brent has to draft a document and I'm going to keep him company.-

Carly smiled at her enigmatically; no, it wasn't what she was thinking. Lillian had no intention of starting a relationship with the Viking. What she wanted was to give him the friendship they both deserved.

-...If you're hungry, there's enough for you too. Who wants to cook in this heat…-

Carly grabbed a hamburger from the bag Lillian had brought home, -Who are all those people in the camp house?-

-Oh yeah, they didn't come last year...They are the group home, usually they stay a month or so.-

-Group home? Like an orphanage?-

-Do not say that!-

The word _orphanage_, Lillian taught her, was obsolete and badly connoted in the North. And those people were also Northerners, in front of them Carly should have said _group home_. It was odd, in the Centre_ orphanage _was not an offensive word... 

/

Robin was young, but he liked to look at little girls and young women, and _the young lady _was a world-class, perhaps even divine beauty to him. For what his childish mind might consider falling in love, he had fallen in love with her. Her tall friend did not inspire him, however, subconsciously she looked less maternal.

Almost every day he was stationed by the fountain-sink hoping to see her go by, when he saw her coming he would throw a toy in the water and then make her fish it out. He couldn't wait to thank her with a hug.

Carly liked children and she didn't mind.

_-A little longer and you will ask '_can we keep him?'_\- _Lapis joked when she talked about Robin.

In the end he still liked the children, he didn't seem annoyed by that profusion of affection. In fact, Seventeen was amused by how Carly won over the little ones.

Even though the children in the group home looked healthy and _normal_, Carly thought Robin needed affection. She too liked it when he leaned his head against her chest.

_"Why can't you be my mummy?"_

People in Viey used to converse with educators. Seeing that he was so fond of her, one of them told Carly about Robin: he was the son of drug addicts, his father had ODd when he was only a year and a half old, he had lived with the group home ever since. He was not adoptable.

"_Because you have a mummy, Robbie. Only now she's not well,..."_

The old ladies in Viey had nothing to do and often made biscuits and jams for the children; Carly once contributed, filling a trug with currants and raspberries just for Robin:

-Come this afternoon to get them, I live in the chalet with hearts carved in the balcony.-

Robin went all happy up to that chalet, -Miss? May I?-

Nobody answered; Robin went in through the unlocked door and took the trug, then walked around the house and surprised Carly with a man.

It was just two grown-ups kissing, yucky, but the child felt his heart skip: for some strange reason it all felt strange to him, the dark-haired young man seemed to be eating her up. It felt odd to Robin when the young lady, with throbbing breasts and burning cheeks, smiled at him, -We were playing.-

The harsh young man, however, did not speak; he aroused much fear in Robin.

To Robin, the young lady didn't really look like an adult but a sort of fairytale creature, with her distinctive colouring and clothes that left soft white limbs exposed. Instead, the blue-eyed man was a real, proper adult.

And he took the young lady away from him ...

When the man came over, she didn't even look at him anymore: she greeted Robin and walked away, holding the man by the hand.

That kiss he had spied had stuck with him; once he happened to be alone with her, Robin asked her a question.

-Miss, is that how babies are made?-

Carly turned red, -...But no, Robbie!-

-And how is it, huh?-

Who knows if Robbie had asked his educators the same thing? Carly was uncomfortable, thinking that it was certainly not up to her to bring up such a subject with that little boy! But she considered herself a woman of science and said what she would tell her children when she had any. A correct and vague explanation.

-See, when two grown-ups love each other very much...-

Robin had no expectations, so he wasn't too surprised. Carly thought she got away with it, but he didn't let go, -Is that what the blue-eyed man does with you? You love him very much…-

Once he happened to see the young man with the young lady again, instead of running away Robin pulled his shirt until he reached down to look at him.

-What do you want, little elf?-

The child wanted to touch his stick straight hair, it looked very soft; however, he just glanced at his laughing sly eyes with sincere aplomb.

-...I want the young lady as a mummy but I don't want you; you are very bad.-

The young man laughed out loud, Robbie saw that the inside of his mouth was as red as raspberries and currants.

-All right, I'm leaving.-

He kissed the young lady goodbye and walked out of Viey, not before giving Robbie a mischievous wink, -FYI, you'd be lucky to have _me _as your dad.-

Mr. Lenteney, sitting nearby with the children and an educator girl, brooded wisely and solemnly:

-That was Seventeen, the _top ranger_. I don't really like him.-

-Ahh no, me neither.-

The educator sighed thoughtfully and fixed her gaze on Carly and Robbie, _"Lucky lady..."_

Once Lapis was gone, Carly went back to playing with Robbie.

-He's mean to you, Carly, isn't he?-

Carly giggled, absently watching other children gathering around Mr. Lenteney shelling nuts with a knife.

It was true that Lapis didn't inspire sweetness like she did, he never had, but Carly didn't like hearing Robbie call him that, -No, why on earth? Don't talk about my boyfriend like that, you can't judge a book by its cover.-

-But you are super sweet …-

Oh, dear ... Carly fondly ruffled the boy's hair, -Do not worry. Don't fear for me, Robbie.-

/

As soon as they got home from Capsule Corp., Eighteen and Krillin officially announced that the renewal of their vows would be postponed to the following year.

Eighteen and the baby were fine, but the newlyweds didn't feel like going through with it.

-So the wedding won't take place next week, right?-

Kate's face was red with emotion when she first went to the Kame House to visit her little girl. As soon as she saw Lazuli, she held her tight and shed a few tears.

Lying in bed, Eighteen touched her seven-month belly, raising restless eyes to Kate, -No, not after what we've been through...I can't tell you what it's like to live in constant anxiety about losing my baby girl.-

-I know, my daughter. I know.-

Krillin and she had discovered that it was a girl only a few weeks before. She was also very shy, in ultrasound scans she used to cross her legs.

A little girl, a little Lazuli ...

Kate couldn't help but hug the future mother even tighter. It would be okay, Lazuli would hold her baby before the leaves started to fall.

-Second breakfast time!-

Krillin entered their room with a pitcher of orange juice and rice cakes. He did not know that his mother-in-law was there and when he saw her with Eighteen, he greeted her with a solemn _Miss Lang _.

-Oh come on, call me Kate. We're family now. By the way, you all have yet to meet Ronan.-

Eighteen smiled at the word _family _, but she wasn't sure she wanted to meet Kate's new partner. Growing up, she had seen her dating various men. However, Kate had never insisted that one of them meet the twins.

This Ronan must have won over her unreachable mother. Perhaps, for that alone he deserved her respect. Eighteen could give him a chance...

-And look, breakfast in bed. Krillin is _the man_.-

Krillin blushed. He could never completely read Kate Lang, especially when the expression in her eyes seemed almost mocking, Seventeen-style.

However, Kate was sincere.

-Oh, actually,...- Eighteen took his hand and winked, -Krillin is all mine.-

/

Thoughts of the author:

Hold on tight, baby Lazuli (who is a baby Krillin in a wig) is still on the way! She will come...next chapter. Then we have Robin, who is introduced here but will appear later in the story at the age of 8/9, with a "status upgrade". Here, Carly doesn't even have children and finds herself having to answer THE embarrassing question children ask, how uncomfortable ')

Robbie asked the right person...just wait, Robbie, sooner or later you will hug Carly and touch Seventeen's hair as often as you like.


	28. Little Marron

The smashing of crockery could be heard even outside the Kame House.

Sixteen wanted to focus on the pelican he had gotten to roost on his arm, but the din from inside the house distracted him.

-Why is she doing this?-

-Eh, hormones, girls' stuff...go figure.-

Sixteen accepted Roshi's vague explanation with reserve: Eighteen had never been like that, her new behaviour was an unknown pattern for him to learn.

The android had arrived at the Kame House a few hours earlier when Krillin had called him. That day was August 21st, the due date.

Eighteen had everything under control: even if the baby didn't seem to be in a hurry to vacate the premises, the mother-to-be already knew that she would be admitted to the most advanced clinic in West City and that the Briefs would help during the birth. Bulma had advised Krillin that this should be done, and now Eighteen saw the benefits too; having planned the birth made her feel safer.

Eighteen had been living without her super-reinforced cerclage for a week already: the Briefs had taken it off to avoid nasty surprises.

"_What if something goes wrong and they have to give me a c-section? You know, cutting my skin..."_

That time, while Bulma was removing the kachi katchin threads, it was the first time Eighteen had spoken to her. When she had put them on Eighteen was too shocked to think about it, but now she was ashamed to be _so naked _before a stranger.

She was also worried: as she already knew, surgery with regular tools would be impossible on her.

Bulma had only contributed to her anxiety:

_"Independently of how the birth will happen, you have to be very careful: the baby can die if she's crushed against your bones. The pressure your body will exert at that moment will be too great for a human baby. "_

The scientist said that the only option was for the baby to be in an optimal position to be able to slide out without being pressed against her mother's pelvis. It was a problem.

_"But now let's think about removing these threads, because if your own muscle pressure makes your uterus rupture, you too can die."_

Even though she was a cyborg. Yeah.

Thinking back to all those unfair problems _s_he would never have if she was a _normal woman_, Eighteen wanted to throw a tantrum.

-Honey, it's nobody's fault …-

-Who's talking about faults?- she hissed, throwing another plate -I just want to be in peace for a while! Is that a lot to ask?-

-Honey…-

-Shut up!-

He'd better not utter a word; all Krillin had done was pulling down his pants, but _she _had to endure it all.

Eighteen couldn't even fling things properly; the dishes slipped out of her hand, and with that belly she could barely see where she was walking. Of course, she could always run quick scans of the room to try not to step on crocks or bump into the furniture, but she didn't feel like: Eighteen couldn't take it anymore.

Where was the warrior who had broken the bones of the prince of all Saiyans? Her killer reflexes, her feline step…

The space that the baby took up inside and outside of her was much, _too much_.

Whenever she miscalculated the area she occupied, Eighteen found it hard to recognize herself.

She loved that baby girl, but she wanted her to come out. She didn't stop moving, her kicks didn't leave Eighteen be.

-Let me talk to her…- Krillin closed his wife in a hug, stroked the taut skin of belly and began to sing:

_"Beautiful baby girl_

_Sweet little star _

_Daddy loves_

_you and your mummy so much."_

Many times Krillin sang for the baby, especially at night in bed.

_"Aaww!" _Yamcha and the others would spy on them, hidden behind the door. It was so strange to see their friend talking to that belly, out of nowhere, with bliss and even gratitude written on his face.

Eighteen snorted, that rhyme was useless, albeit sweet; the baby was already fond of her dad, every time she felt his presence she calmed down.

-Mama T-Rex coming in!- warned Yamcha, seeing Eighteen heading for the door. Everyone dispersed and pretended nothing happened, very careful not to be heard by the reinforced ears of the cyborg woman.

-Hey, Sixteen! Not today... -

The android pet the pelican goodbye and went to meet Krillin and Eighteen, -Am I not supposed to take her to West City?-

-It was a false alarm ... and I can fly alone too.-

Eighteen spoke to him without interest; she walked wearily, with her eyes downcast and her hands clasped on top of her belly.

Who knew how long the baby girl wanted to make them wait.

/

-Listen, Lapis, why did you refuse to see Lazuli after her surgery?-

-Because I didn't have time.-

Seventeen fled to look out the window; the hotel was set just above Verny and, as from Viey, the night looked thick and silvery.

-She's your sister; you had to make time.-

Carly had a gift for raising existential issues at inopportune times. They had just made love, for God's sake...irritation attracted more irritation and Seventeen grunted in frustration at the thought of Lillian (and Brent and Elliott too). Because of them, he was often forced to go to a hotel to spend the night with Carly, like a stowaway.

That text message Eighteen had sent him on their birthday had shaken him to the core.

His sister was _pregnant_.

It was something huge, it had touched him on the most personal issue, the conversion into a cyborg. Unconsciously he had projected everything onto himself: Gero had not annihilated their humanity, they were like other Earthlings in all respects, in the end.

Yes, he was too.

Every time Seventeen thought about it he felt a twinge in his chest; he didn't feel ready to see his sister with a baby bump.

Carly joined him by the window. She looked disconsolately at the lace of her dressing gown:

-Since we will have children, what are you going to do when you'll see me being pregnant? Will you avoid me?-

It was a matter that mildly worried her; from the aura that Lapis was giving off at that moment, to Carly it seemed that he really could have done so. Leaving her alone, not to face any reaction the matter would have triggered in his head.

After all, Carly was ashamed to think so badly of the one who would, one day, father her children; and Seventeen thought he would be a regular, present father to his offspring, as he had always imagined.

-No, why? With Eighteen it's different.-

Knowing that she would have a child and seeing it with his own eyes was not the same.

But he was meant to see Eighteen before she gave birth: the next day, Kate invited them both to lunch to meet her partner.

Seventeen answered the text message by raising the only question that seemed relevant to him: Kate didn't expect them to call Ronan _dad_, did she?

/

Kate opened the door to Lapis and Carly: seeing them together was a flashback that almost hypnotized her. Carly was exactly as she remembered her: fresh, radiant and above all in love with her son.

She and Kate resumed their relationship from where they had left off and greeted each other with a hug, like two old friends who don't need to catch up even after years of silence.

Kate maternally stroked Carly's cheek; to her the girl was another daughter, one of the few people outside the family with whom physical contact didn't disturb her.

She felt almost guilty that she had never contacted her again. she had only talked to her father George, and rarely.

Ronan was preparing lunch, he ran to Kate's side with a Bellini in hand; his skin and clothes smelled of peach.

-Last time on the phone we didn't do proper introductions. Ronan, this is my son, Lapis.-

Seventeen wondered which facial expression to show: he hoped that he would appear threatening as he squeezed Ronan's hand just not to make Kate uncomfortable.

-Pleasure to finally meet you. Ouch, this is a nice firm handshake…-

Ronan gave his partner a pained smile and Kate pushed him toward the pretty redhead girl, -And this is my daughter in law, Carly.-

The handshake with her was more forgiving.

Lazuli had not yet arrived, Kate invited everyone to sit at a low table decked with quaint high glasses of Bellini and various freshly prepared appetizers.

-Kate told me about you, so you're the best ranger in the _Royal Nature Park._-

Seventeen certainly wouldn't have answered a rhetorical question.

-Man of few words, huh?-

-No, he only plays wild when he feels like.-

The cyborg watched his mother wink at Ronan; he just gave that man a thoughtful look, after all it was rude to speak with his mouth full. It was thus by chance that Seventeen found the perfect ploy that would have saved him from a tedious conversation with _Ronan_.

/

Arriving with a slight delay is not only glamorous, but it cements a first impression of a certain kind: once beyond Kate's threshold, Eighteen glanced at everyone present. All eyes were on her, especially Ronan's.

_"Mission accomplished."_

Her mother's boyfriend was obviously much less attractive than she was, but perhaps he was a good, loving man. Ronan could be to Kate what Krillin was to her. If so, Eighteen could be happy for her.

As Ronan and Krillin greeted each other, Eighteen lingered slightly longer in the eyes of her twin brother and of the red-haired girl.

-And this is Lazuli, my daughter.-

Kate's words came almost from afar, Eighteen mechanically shook Ronan's hand.

Now she remembered: the_ nerd_... the one who was screwing her brother!

The memory of her own jealousy was a light slap on Eighteen's face.

Everyone gasped when, with calculated gestures, Eighteen took the stage by undoing her jacket and revealing a low, protruding belly, elegantly dressed in a blouse cut to enhance it.

Carly felt Lapis wince as he squeezed her hand tighter. She turned to glance at him and saw that he looked calm, even though he didn't take his eyes off Lazuli.

She too couldn't stop looking at her: it was her, Lazuli, always splendid, always beyond comparison. The cuteness of her baby bump didn't sweeten the edgy quality of her beauty, she looked _grand_.

But she wasn't a goddess, Lazuli was just a girl a year her junior: her sister in law, who was about to have a daughter. Carly got up to hug her and congratulate her.

And Eighteen decided she no longer needed to be jealous of Carly getting her brother's attentions, because she felt more independent of him herself.

She returned Carly a symbolic hug and a sincere little smile.

Seventeen nodded looking at her, giving her that same smile.

/

Since she was there in her hometown with her mother, Eighteen had asked her if she would like to have a walk together, -I'm ten days past my due date, let's see if more walking gets her out.-

Eighteen's belly had dropped days before, she was _really _ready to pop.

While retouching her makeup and brushing her hair, Kate spoke lovingly to her Lapis:

-Earlier, when I called Carly 'my daughter in law' I noticed you got nervous. Just so you know, I wasn't rushing you.-

Kate was so tactful with him. Sometimes she even got ahead of herself.

-I wasn't offended.-

Kate had said something nice. He remembered how he'd called Carly in front of that Margaret woman._ "She's my wife."_

Deep down he knew he wanted Carly to be a pillar in his life, a permanent presence. The fact that he himself had designated her as _his wife _hinted just that.

/

Seventeen had found his sister in her room, he had expected her to need a break from the family reunion; she sat alone on her bed, gazing at the onesies Kate and Ronan had given her, singing Krillin's rhyme for the restless baby.

-What's her name?- Seventeen also took a seat on the bed, close enough for her to notice his bright eyes.

-You're not an uncle yet. You will know in due course.-

-_Beautiful baby_; she can come out ugly, you know?-

-What?!-

Holy cow, babies weren't cute by default.

-If yours inherits that frog physiognomy I will not lie to your face.-

That Ronan guy also reminded Seventeen of a frog; his mother and sister were just attracted to that kind of face.

-Just try to make poisonous comments about my husband and daughter, and I'll kill you.-

Seventeen shrugged, pleased with the provocation.

He handed her a card, -Carly and I didn't know what to get you. Buy whatever you want with this.-

He smiled as he saw his sister's non-existent brows rise for a millisecond. It was a very generous gift card.

-Oh I know, it must be worth more than your home.-

-At least I live there with my husband,- this time it was she who smiled.

He rose from the bed, avoiding her gaze. -Well, time to leave; ta-ta, Eighteen.-

She could read Seventeen; all that time he had been terribly nervous and now he couldn't wait to go, to escape who knows what.

Before he left the room, she stopped him in the doorway, -This is good, bro. For you too.-

In a whisper, she understood all the mixed feelings he had about it.

The deepest dilemmas. Nature and _against nature._

Leaning against the door, Seventeen stood looking at his sister and her belly. It was a good thing…

Eighteen watched him nervously bite his cheek and turn away from her.

/

Shortly thereafter, Seventeen and Carly were walking down the street, looking for a place where he could load her on his shoulder and take off north, undisturbed.

It hadn't hurt that Eighteen was having a family while he was still fooling around, but instinctively he thought about the implications of that unexpected hint about the extent of Gero's twisting.

It was possible: he and Carly, one day...

Lapis's tension was palpable, but Carly thought he had behaved. It must not have been easy to see his twin sister close to giving birth.

Carly knew he was avoiding holding her hand because he was still shaking.

-Just see it this way, you're going to be the cool uncle who teaches her swear words! And who makes her laugh…-

The best thing was that Seventeen truly felt like he could be that cool uncle: the faceted jewel blue of his eyes shone even brighter at Carly's words.

It was love that lit them up, a love he himself wasn't aware of.

Instinctively Carly felt her own eyes fill with tears.

In spite of Lapis's stubborn embarrassment, she intertwined her fingers with his and placed her forehead on his chest. -I love you so much, my darling.-

/

It felt good but also weird to walk with Kate in downtown Central City, licking an ice cream cone like when she and Seventeen were young and had many walks with Kate. She was even leaning on her mother as she was then, but instead of holding her hand, Eighteen had let her take her arm.

Looking at Kate gave her a certain sense of inadequacy: Eighteen was as beautiful as ever, indeed, the new fullness of her body made her superlative in the eyes of Krillin and the other men in the house, but her perception was radically different.

Usually Kate wasn't more beautiful than she was: she gave Eighteen a run for her money but in the end they were even.

Eighteen was _never _aesthetically inferior, she was _super hot_.

But now she felt outshined by her mother, a quarter of a century older but always sophisticated and elegant, while she seemed to have lost her sense of the standard: many times, going around the seaside resorts not far from Roshi's island, she had spotted women in slippers:

_"How can people go around the city in those sloppy slippers?"_

And now she was looking at the rubber flip-flops at her feet, which felt so hot and swollen it was painful to even slip on on a pair of sandals.

Eighteen had stooped so low; for the sake of her daughter she was dressing like a slob.

-I gave up counting the kilos I've put on. After ten I stopped wanting to know.-

The gynaecologist weighed her down at each consultation, but woe to her if only one word of those conversations reached Eighteen's ears.

-Eat less, then- laughed Kate. -for example, instead of two ice cream cones you could have had one.-

-But I'm hungry; how did you manage at the time?-

-I don't think I could help…-

Kate's only experience had been with twin pregnancy, a different context in which gaining weight was even encouraged.

-My bump was twice as big as yours but I was getting thinner and thinner.-

Lazuli made a haughty grimace. Kate really meant to comfort her, she had never considered being as thin as a rake a physical quality of hers.

Kate wasn't surprised when Lazuli told her that even though she loved the baby, she struggled to enjoy the pregnancy: it had been exactly the same for her.

-I understand, Lazuli. I carried you and Lapis to 40+ weeks, full term for twins is 37. My body was shutting down.-

Eighteen had always been in awe of Kate's fortitude.

Her own body had endured the lack of the super kachi katchin threads, but she was always on the alert, -I can no longer live without regard as before. I have to pay attention to everything I do and I'm not used to it.-

She felt ungrateful and guilty for thinking_ "I don't want to do this anymore"._

Krillin had had to grab the chair that she had tried to throw at her gynaecologist: the madwoman had almost promised her that morning sickness would disappear after the first trimester, but Eighteen still had it.

_"On average, love. The doctor said on average."_

Krillin had apologized to the poor gynaecologist while, in a light cold sweat he had showed Eighteen out. If his wife was already hardly tolerant and intimidating, she was even worse when she was pregnant.

She was always nervous and it took nothing to make her lose her temper.

-It's so frustrating, I can't wait to regain control of my body. When Alien comes out, maybe…-

-I know. Hold on and try to enjoy this moment of your life; if you can't that's okay, it is what it is.-

Eighteen was also wary of something else, -Krillin wants to come with me in the birthing room, but I don't want him to.-

Those words did nothing but stir totally different memories in Kate's mind, -This is your decision, I can't suggest anything. Just keep in mind that he's the father.-

Would have Kate wished that the father of Lapis and Lazuli were with her when she had given birth alone and frightened?

Yes. Kate would have liked it.

-...but if he sees me like that how will he find me sexy again? I want to be his wife first and foremost, and you know… ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!-

It had been since she had knocked on Kate's door that Eighteen had felt undisposed. It was different from the time when she had had a crazy pain in her side, because the baby was sitting on her kidney. She felt her muscles pull, it was not pain but generalised discomfort.

And now that pang was like an orchestra of many small pangs, needles hurling themselves against every spot of her abdomen.

-Lazuli? What's going on?-

Eighteen noticed that she had instinctively knelt. Looking up she found the identical ice blue of Kate's gaze, warmed by genuine concern.

Eighteen's first impulse was to verify that she wasn't losing blood like that terrible time.

Well, no blood, she could do as Kate said: call Krillin and go get checked in a clinic there in the city: it was certainly nothing, but given her history she could never be too careful.

/

The doctors who attended that birth, in the small but efficient Central City clinic, would never forget the girl who had come to them with the baby practically between her legs:

-Madam, sure you started having contractions just a little while ago?-

To hell with their questions...

-If I said so! Uhhh!-

-Is there something wrong, doctor?- Krillin asked coldly.

-I'm checking her cervix now; it's fully dilated.-

Krillin had learned that it took hours and hours for a woman's body to be ready to give birth, but Eighteen was Eighteen. And the doctors didn't know.

The doctors would never forget that sensational event, that prodigy birth that happened in just twenty minutes and with exactly three pushes from the girl.

/

The pain grew so overwhelming that soon Eighteen could no longer talk; her contractions followed one after the other, relentlessly. They felt like bombs going off inside of her.

This was not what Eighteen had planned. Confidence faded with the unpredictability of life overcoming her painstaking planning.

She was in a regular Central City hospital. The best yes, but where were the Briefs?

She wasn't sure she could do it without them.

_"Look at me ... I, cyborg 18, can't give birth to my daughter without those two humans."_

It hadn't been yet 15 minutes since the contractions had begun.

Suddenly a huge pressure radiated from the cyborg's pelvis to her whole body. It was the very strong impression of being crushed by a roller, but there was something even stronger that urged Eighteen to act: the mad desire to push.

The doctors watched in bewilderment as the mother-to-be jumped to her feet and clung to the bed; a stream of blood gushed onto the linoleum and she grit her teeth.

It was _excruciating pain_. A pain as great as she didn't think existed.

Given the impossible rhythms of that birth, the doctors feared that the girl's uterus would tear.

The doctors didn't know she was a cyborg, when they said she had to stop pushing or both she and the baby would be in grave danger.

They attacked her with their notions, with their demands.

Eighteen wanted Krillin to talk to her: he could say anything, as long as he gave her strength, as long as he took her mind off that pain! But the doctors' words had gotten to him and the first tears were already streaming down his cheeks.

No, she could not count on Krillin: Eighteen had to find that strength in the depths of herself, in the love for her daughter, in the will to prove her worth to those doctors daring to say that if she didn't let herself be taken to the theatre, she would be a goner.

Eighteen became the warrior again.

That push, the second, made her cry out.

Krillin was stunned: his wife was a nearly indestructible creature, yet the screams she was now giving off were an unmistakable message of pain.

Giving birth was something on a whole new level, even for her.

The doctors were petrified when the girl crouched on the ground and banged her fists so hard that the bloodied linoleum could not withstand the impact; the whole room shook and the neon lights popped.

That August 31st, with the third and final push the daughter left her mother's body; it was a quick and fluid separation, the flicker of a tadpole.

It had been a bloody birth, but fast and effective.

The new father proudly watched the new mother bustle like a cat around the newborn girl. Eighteen took the baby, still covered with the fluids of birth, in her arms and pressed her to her throbbing chest.

_"Hey there, my love." _

She held her close, looked at her, rubbed her forehead against her slippery little body.

That was the moment that Krillin had waited for so long: with his heart aflutter, he went to meet his daughter.

-Here you are…-

His eyes filled with joy and love as he squeezed both of the women of his life.

The new parents barely felt the touch of the midwives, checking out the baby girl and wrapping her in clean towels.

She was a healthy chubby baby, a great screamer, all flushed from the effort of being born.

-Give her to me…-

Eighteen shuffled over to a midwife and picked up her daughter, but couldn't complete her gesture; she fell limply on her back and let out another scream, a hoarse one, her voice consumed by fatigue and a new haemorrhage.

The doctors hurried to take her, intending to get her back to bed, but she pushed them away with a decidedly unusual vigor.

A new admiration filled all those present in watching that very young mother trudge along, hugging that mini husband: she calmed down only when she reached the bed by herself and had her baby girl back in her arms.

-Look, Kril...she has your nose.-

-And your hair…-

Eighteen stroked her daughter's head; at that contact the latter seemed to come alive and firmly slammed her little face against her mother's chest. Instinct and recent memories of birthing classes propped Eighteen to help the baby in her first feed.

But being born, escaping a _killer body _like that one had been too much of an effort: the baby girl collapsed in exhaustion shortly after just touching her mother's nipple with her sweet lips.

Eighteen thought back to the only name that had made her smile, in the book that Krillin had borrowed from Son Goku's widow.

-Marron. This shall be her name.-

Their very own Marron. Looking at her, it seemed to Krillin that she couldn't be named in any other way; he tasted every word whispered by his beloved wife, he looked at her with all the love he felt for her:

-You are the most wonderful thing in the world. Thank you, Eighteen. Thanks for this creature, thanks for being here.-

Eighteen inhaled the baby's scent, she smelled like fresh butter; she was the dawn of a new life.

She hid her face against little Marron, she didn't want Krillin to see her tears.

Ruthless machine, no more: she had given life and Gero's plans, her circuits and her power were absolutely irrelevant in the face of such immensity.

She had Marron, she had Krillin, she was lucky enough to have the chance to give and receive so much love.

Things that really mattered.

Before being kidnapped and converted Lazuli had been a die-hard thug, then she had become #18, a poor bastard thing, a half woman; she had wondered many times why it had happened to her, being doomed to remain so undeserving.

But Krillin had crossed her path and had given her the gift of a new beginning, with an intimate and simple life.

Machine and woman, warrior and mother, Eighteen was all of these.

She had never felt so close to _being alive_.

Ever since before stepping out of her pod in that laboratory, Eighteen had almost accepted that bitches like her didn't deserve a happy ending: but in the end, after all those trials and tribulations she had found hers in the pure-hearted, brave _Shaolin monk_ and in the child he had given her.

/

Thoughts of the author:

What can I say, Marron is here!

It wasn't a movie-like birth but after all, childbirth is not a very idealised thing in reality…trust me,not at all!


	29. Super 18

After the end of the Cell Games, Future Trunks was back in his timeline. He had seen himself as a child in his mother's arms, he had met his father and shook hands with the warriors who no longer lived in his world; he had encountered fake enemies #16, #17 and #18 and then the real threat, Cell. He had even died and come back to life.

Strengthened by this experience he had sped away, leaving that world in a state of truce.

What the boy from the future didn't know was that yet another time travel would have implications for the timeline he had just left.

The consequences of Future Trunks's last journey had remained unknown even to the inhabitants of Earth themselves. No one had noticed anything, not even the warriors.

While people still celebrated peace, ominous figures loomed on the horizons of cities, hidden by the grasses of the prairies, waiting in dark caves for the signal to rise.

The only one who had glimpsed suspicious movements here and there in the world had been the young Kami.

Dende had been restless for a long time, short of answers to that state of mind of his. One day he had looked out, standing at the edge of his white floor, and he _had seen them_.

Sixteen in all, scattered about in the world and ready to strike again. Stronger than before. They had returned, those that had been slain and those who had been destroyed by the very hands that had created them.

A horde poised to reclaim Earth, Cell had been defeated so recently…

Dende knew that facing them wasn't his call. All he could do was use his Kami powers to allow his friends, the Z Warriors, to avoid yet another threat of extinction.

-Sir, this is the enchanted parchment you asked for,- Mr. Popo stepped closer and bowed to Kami. When Dende turned he saw the parchment already in the hands of his assistant.

-Sir. If you allow, I think that among all the warriors out there we have three or four who can help us with these enemies. One of them is easily accessible.-

With the enchanted scroll stretched out at his feet, Dende nodded to Mr. Popo and focused on recalling the images he had seen from the Lookout. He saw with satisfaction his hands light up and imprint his thoughts on the parchment.

Dende squeezed his memory like a lemon, until the last images moved from his mind to the scroll. By the time the spell was cast, the scroll resembled a hit list.

-Everything is here. Their looks, the data I as Kami have about them. The first ones will strike in a few weeks' time near South City,- declared the young Namekian, dabbing the sweat on his forehead and rolling the parchment between his hands.

-Like last time?-

-Like last time, but they may not be the same. Here, Mr. Popo. Bring the parchment to her.-

/

From a high ground, Sixteen and Eighteen looked suspiciously at the whole area of Saffron Town, large and peaceful, drunk with fog in that December afternoon. The cyborg and the android were witnessing a scene they had never seen before, but which Bulma had informed them about.

The site of the attack had moved a few miles and the enemies had changed, but history was repeating itself.

The two figures advanced towards the city from a nearby depression in the ground, probably the entrance to their lair.

-Ok Sixteen, I got two. Let me try, first.-

Eighteen hadn't even gotten started and was already gripped by stress.

-Relax. You know how to, you were very proficient yesterday.-

Sixteen's peaceful smile, which she and Seventeen had found so strange at the time of the skirmishes with the Z Warriors, now reassured her. Sixteen could certainly feel the tension in her nerves, perhaps her few circuits were also heating up. But surely Sixteen wouldn't show her his appreciation just to flatter her. For this, the android was a guarantee.

Eighteen thought that her family's safety depended on her, and focused with a deep sigh. She let the damp air, heavy with winter storm surges, sink deep into her lungs. With that sigh she tasted a few splashes of salt and prepared to concentrate her artificial _ki _in the arm she wanted to turn into a weapon.

The cyborg girl felt every cell in her limb: it was a further evolution of her augmented tactile sensitivity. Now she could feel her cells changing, rearranging, becoming something else; and the more her infinite energy flowed, the faster her skin and veins turned. The silvery glint of something that looked like metal, at first glance, satisfied the girl's excited and distressed gaze. Her mind wandered as soon as she saw that glimmering mass break down into many tiny cubes, in clumps less and less bright, blacker and blacker.

_"Oh no!"_

Watching her limb collapse and shatter into fragments, silver and black like shards of mirror, Eighteen lost all her momentum. Her mood plummeted and she wondered how she had succeede, just the day before. By now she believed she was beyond _the cubes phase_.

Eighteen sadly bowed her head, while the black and silver fragments gathered as if attracted by a magnet, until her arm looked again like a regular human limb.

-Don't be so hard on yourself, Eighteen. It'll be easier with the enemy before you,- Sixteen turned to the sudden burst of energy that broke the vaporous calm of Saffron Town. -Let's go.-

/

All the peoplw who had been brave enough, or stupid enough, to stand and watch that battle like it was a football match or the Tenkaichi tournament, were almost amused by the pairing of fighters. When the golden-haired woman and the giant with the mohawk had arrived and engaged the _creepy men_ in a fight so fast it bordered invisible, she had thrown herself on the bigger one and he was left with the midget.

As he dodged the laser beams shooting from his opponent's glasses, Sixteen didn't lose Eighteen out of sight.

He hoped she would give the new move a try anyway. She had to at least attempt it, because her enemy was keeping up too well.

Even if he had wanted to, Sixteen couldn't have supported her at that moment.

\- #15, you leave me no other option but to destroy you,- Sixteen scanned the inside of that other android, that creation built like the ugly imitation of a child, with purple skin and clothes that resembled those of a clown.

-Provided that I don't kill you first, #16. You're a failure.-

#15 hit the giant with his little hands, and the whole town shook when Sixteen fell on the tarmac, tearing a hole. -Remember that. Even if you have found friends.-

The crowd produced a single wail of astonishment as the purple-skinned android grabbed the giant again and hurled him through a skyscraper.

#15 had no time to waste: #16 was what he was, but he shouldn't be underestimated. Never.

He flew up to intercept him and charged and energy blast:

-Goodbye, #16.-

The crowd could no longer see, but the ginger giant now lay motionless on the ground with a huge hole eating his torso from collarbones to groin.

#15 leered with satisfaction. His opponent's reactor was now destroyed.

/

Meanwhile Eighteen had witnessed all the action, between a blow to the face for her opponent and his sword slashing on.

That swordsman and his weapon were much more challenging than Future Trunks and his blade, that had chipped against Eighteen's arm. The weapon of #14 had not yet pierced her, but it had removed a lock of her hair, left scratches and wounds on her limbs.

Did he want to inflict her death by a thousand cuts?

No one had asked those androids to return. And if Eighteen hadn't read Dende's scroll, she would never have understood why they had returned.

When that eerie Popo creature had showed up at the Kame House with the precious document, Eighteen had realised she had to find a way to strengthen her skills. She had talked about it with Sixteen.

"_You have to get stronger than you are now. Right now you won't be able to defeat all those androids, but Kami trusts your potential,"_

Eighteen had been outraged by Sixteen's words. Wasn't she strong enough?

_"Are you telling me I need to upgrade? What about Seventeen?"_

_"Seventeen can already produce weapons. He is already stronger than you."_

Eighteen had swallowed all her pride. Taking advantage of Marron's sleep, she had followed Sixteen, who seemed to see already more clearly than she. They had flown to Capsule Corp.

What was Seventeen's weapon? Sixteen could do that thing with his detachable arm and could turn both arms into cannons, but Seventeen?

Eighteen thought about this as she studied silent #14. With inhuman speed the girl created two _destructo disks _and hurled them simultaneously at the burly android. She chased after him and grabbed his long braid of black hair, preparing a third _destructo disk_.

The deal was clear: she and Sixteen would kill all of Doctor Gero's androids, reborn with that time travelling glitch, and in return they could continue to live in peace. It was a simple job she had to do for free, but at least it would help her build a reputation. And those wrecks had to be smashed anyway, better do it herself than giving the task away to the occasional Vegeta.

Eighteen had been relieved to know that there were _only _sixteen enemies for her and Sixteen to take down. They would shut them down forever one after the other, like bounty hunters. At least there were no other versions of herself, Sixteen, of Seventeen and...

When Eighteen's giant disk smashed against #14's artificial skin, she remembered.

_"Force fields. Damn it."_

Seventeen could project shields. Sixteen was right, he was stronger than her. But maybe, not anymore.

Eighteen let out a strangled sigh as #14's large hand wrapped around her neck, lifting up her whole body.

It hurt! Eighteen couldn't breathe, the sword cuts on her skin throbbed and opened more and more…

But it wasn't she who was at a disadvantage.

Luring #14 so close to her Eighteen had given herself a chance to hit him point blank.

She smiled, as the tingling in her arm became a pleasant sensation…

/

The crowd remained hidden and watched with bated breath as the giant fell on his back.

He was dead, for sure. No one could survive without their chest.

Puny #15 had become the giant, towering over the supine mass of Sixteen, ready to destroy his head too.

But his database didn't include the most recent info. The circuits of #15 did not register the reason why so many thick threads filled the void he had left in the body of #16, forming a weft dense like several layers of cobwebs.

Those black threads perfectly restored the missing parts of Sixteen and he rose again, under the shocked gaze of the hidden crowd.

Other terrible blows shook heaven and earth. The androids battled hand-to-hand, dodging laser beams and tanking punches that shook the air around them.

Momentarily tired from the recent confrontation, Eighteen took up post on a skyscraper and, like that time two years earlier, watched Sixteen unfold his power. But this time Sixteen hit the enemy with a beam of energy that did not touch the city, getting lost in the hyperboreum.

Sixteen watched his energy pulverise #15; he sat down on a reinforced concrete spike and scanned the hot ashes scattered on the ground, the only proof of an enemy standing there moments ago.

Sixteen didn't have time to complete the scan: the top of his head rolled to the ground, sliced clean.

-You claimed victory too soon, man!-

The real # 15 came out behind him. Sixteen learned just now that he could double. If only he could perceive artificial _ki_...

#15 didn't get to finish his work. The last thing he saw was the figure of # 18 hurled to assault him, her human muscles tense in impetus.

The crowd let out another sigh as the body of #15 broke through the street, trodden by the girl's.

-You're just a little more than a human. You can't compete with me and #14.-

\- #14 was neutralized,- Eighteen focused, speaking in a laconic voice.

She thought of how that coward had treacherously attacked Sixteen, coming out behind him, and she grew furious.

Energy began to flow down her arm and the cubes, fragments of mirror turned into a long, smooth, sharp blade.

From the dust, Sixteen watched proudly. The enemy android could not be dismayed, but Eighteen was certain that hers was a move he could not have foreseen.

-I'm not just a human. I'm Super 18.-

/

Every time she had to reassemble her matter in that sharp blade, Eighteen felt a slight shake in her head and for very long moments in her mind, which were only seconds for the world, she floated in a state of hypnosis in which she saw scenes from the past in a vivid and almost violent way.

Before piercing the eye of the sneaky #15 with her blade-arm, Eighteen reviewed the scene of the water hole.

Sparks and golden particles danced suspended around her in silent bubbles. Air escaped from her mouth, she gasped and descended, swirling in the water pocket, the light of the day more and more distant and the bottom of the sea closer and closer.

Sixteen fired a beam of energy that incinerated what remained of the real #15; only at that moment the crowd rushed into the streets where their heroes were passing, dying to see them up close, touching them, in short wanting them to know they existed. Everyone wanted the girl and the giant to know that they had saved lives. People wanted them to know that they all existed.

There were so many faces around her. The crowd poked Eighteen as if to make sure of her presence, or perhaps for the simple pleasure of feeling her. She and Sixteen, blade and mechanic skull in plain sight, walked like triumphant generals out of Saffron Town and did not look back to greet its grateful inhabitants.

/

-Do you know #15 was mine?- Sixteen demanded, seeing that Eighteen was finally relaxing. The cubes had once again fragmented and the mass of the blade had fallen to the ground, before reassembling itself into the usual limb of the young woman.

-Sure. I just wanted to help,- she winked slyly, already knowing that Sixteen wouldn't believe her.

Next time she'd give him the satisfaction of taking down at least one android.

Sixteen waited patiently for the upper part of his skull to regenerate.

-And indeed your body is exhausted.- Sixteen realised that Eighteen would soon pass out and picked her up before she fell.

She tired much faster now. Her energy was perpetual, but that new transformation was a massive drain.

When Bulma had tested the kachi katchin combined with Eighteen's core, she had told her that only the infinite energy models could bear the cost of a metamorphic upgrade. Especially for a cyborg with a distinctly prevalent human component, reorganising her physical structure into a weapon and adapting it to the rhythms of a battle was an effort that could have damaged her.

In the post-fight torpor, cradled in the arms of Sixteen, Eighteen wondered when she would die, by dint of exhaustion. However, in the meantime she was enjoying the interesting aspects of that boost she had asked Bulma as soon as Popo had left her all alone with the scroll.

-You'll take the next one, Sixteen.-

The body knows when it's time to quit. Eighteen would hunt another android another day, it was time for her to go home. The machine-woman moaned softly, feeling her swollen breasts. Her hand got wet with milk, her chest was about to burst now. It was time to go home and feed her baby.

/

Marron stared in amazement at the faces hovering above her. She couldn't figure out who they were, but they smiled and looked good; they certainly couldn't be bad faces.

The head of one of those people was crowned with a mega bun of blond hair; the hair looked a bit like mum's, but she wasn't mum.

The other person had bright eyes, very fun to look at, like mum's. But those dark eyebrows certainly weren't mum's...

In any case, no one around there _smelled like mum_, so it wasn't worth going from angel to devil, demanding milk with very loud screams and making anyone in the room panic.

-Sweetie...she's blonde,- Sara tenderly stroked the thin tufts of whitish hair that sprouted here and there on the head of her best friend's daughter. -A baby Lazuli.-

She resented when, on the other side of the crib, she saw Lapis disagree with theatrical gestures.

Now Sara remembered his ways, -What's the matter Lapis? Don't you think she looks like your sister?-

_"For shit. It's the gnome in a wig."_

Seventeen stifled another laugh. It occurred to him that if he said what he really thought, he would have to take a lecture from the _two_ women in that room.

-No, I don't. She only has her hair and for me it's not enough.-

-He's right, even I don't think she looks like Lazuli. Not even the complexion is hers.-

Kate walked over to the crib and peered critically at her beloved granddaughter.

She confided to her son and Sara that when Lazuli was born, the doctors were almost shocked at the whiteness of her skin.

-Lazuli came out white as chalk. Marron is rosy like her dad.-

Kate loved watching Marron and secretly looking for similarities. But she never communicated them aloud, you never knew how they could take it...

Lazuli lived so far from Central City that Sara had used her end-of-year holiday to visit her. She would stay at the Kame House for a week before returning to Bruno and Amelia for Christmas.

Seventeen on the other hand had only taken the day, mostly to serve as a vehicle for his mother.

-Speak of the devil…-

The young man turned to the bedroom door and saw Sixteen and his sister plod into the room, he with a peaceful smile, she with her shirt all wet and an angry grimace.

When she got home, the housemates hadn't dared to stand in her way, even Seventeen and Sara stepped aside when they saw her looming over Marron's cradle. The little girl was happy to be picked up and then, having ascertained that it was her mother indeed, she remembered that she was hungry and began to whimper faintly, a prelude to a wild cry.

Marron carried on screaming at the top of her lungs as Eighteen took refuge with her in another room.

Later, while Marron slept and Sara and the other housemates were entertaining themselves, Krillin, Seventeen and Kate were eager to hear about Saffron Town.

-Did you meet our doubles, by any chance?- Seventeen wanted to know.

-According to Dende's visions there are no doubles of us three,- said Sixteen.

-But there must be Doctor Gero's somewhere,- Eighteen recalled.

Kate shuddered as she heard the name of the madman who had stolen her children. By now she knew secrets normally closed to _basic humans_, she knew there were androids roaming free around the world, she also knew who Kami was (in her homeland, Amenbo Island, people simply called him _God_), but the words _Doctor Gero_ still filled her with angst.

-I was going to say that I would like to kill him again, but maybe _she _wants to do it…-

Kate got even madder at the slightly derisory tone her son had just used; if her strength would not allow her to do so, her wrath was as valid as that of her cyborg children.

Kate dismissed those thoughts and focused on a question that her son in law, Sixteen and the twins had not yet cleared up:

-Kami spoke of sixteen out of twenty androids. Why are the doubles of you three and…?-

Silence descended on the beach. Yep. The three of them and ...?

Krillin, who had hitherto been thoughtful, lit up: -# 8.-

Four pairs of very cold eyes looked at him as if he had said nonsense. But the monk did not let himself be intimidated:

-You guys don't know him. #8 is a cyborg by Gero I met as a boy, together with Son Goku. He has lived in peace for years and I think he's still alive, that would be why he doesn't figure among the sixteen of Dende. -

-A cyborg? So we're not the only ones,- Eighteen looked at Seventeen and then at Sixteen, bewildered.

Unfortunately the latter couldn't help her, his database didn't include any #8.

A creation rejected by Doctor Gero as totally unsuitable for combat. He was docile and a pacifist, he hated clashes even more than Sixteen himself.

-Maybe we should meet him,- the android hinted.

Krillin tried to dissuade him, -He would feel threatened by you. And also by Seventeen and Eighteen. He would never join you.-

-Well, that wouldn't do any good,- chuckled the haughty Eighteen. -Rather, Seventeen, don't you feel compelled to do your part?-

Eighteen knew that Dende had chosen her out of all of them to carry out that mission, but if Seventeen had pitched in the enemy count would have reached zero more quickly.

-Ah, I don't know …-

The boy wanted to make himself want. -If you two need me, it means you're weak.-

Eighteen had regained her strength. Lightning-fast, she rebuilt her arm into a blade and soon Seventeen was watching fragments of his hair fall on the shoreline.

Kate and Krillin were left speechless. They knew Eighteen had been upgraded, but they had never seen her do it. Seventeen himself was impressed with the transformation. He felt a sting on his neck and when he saw the blood on his fingers, he knew that his sister was serious.

That razor-sharp blade was not a weapon used by her. It was part of her.

_"Holy shit. Crazy stuff."_

-That's a small cut. Don't push your luck…-

Eighteen was strong enough to tear through his reinforced skin. Maybe, maybe, between inner peace and work he had stayed behind...

-Ok, 18.2, I got the message.-

She snorted, gracefully moving a fluttering lock, -Troglodyte. Call me _Super_ 18.-

She putting on so many airs made Seventeen want to make even more fun of her. But once again he remembered to hold his tongue, especially when Kate got in too.

Kate had in fact moved to her daughter's side and proudly placed her hand on her shoulder:

-There's not much to laugh about. Lazuli has every reason to put on airs.-

/

When it was time to leave Kame House, the male cyborg did not feel ready.

He glanced at his sister, sitting alone in the total darkness of the beach.

-I was joking. I'm proud of you.-

He had to admit it. At least Eighteen would stop with that long face.

But she just winked: it was only when Seventeen announced his departure that she decided to break the silence:

-Every time I transform I relive my fall into the water pocket. Every time the flesh becomes steel and the current of energy runs through my body, it happens again and again.-

-Oh, that!-

Not even Seventeen had forgotten it; Gero hadn't been able to erase from his mind the memory of the day his sister almost died.

It had been during that holiday in Rochelle village, the summer after their eighth birthday, that time he and Eighteen had seen the ocean for the first time. Kate had taken them to the Eastern coast, unaware that many of the beaches in the area had _water holes_, pockets hidden beneath the surface of the sandy expanse, very difficult to see. It was easy to sink into it when running on the beach.

It had happened to his sister: a minute before she was running towards him, preparing to win that badminton match.

A minute later he had lost her out of sight.

Seventeen had savoured the feeling of panic when he had run for Kate, when he had seen his mother obsessively dig the shore, until her feverish hands had found a patch of quicksand. The lifeguard had dipped his arms and pulled Eighteen out of the water hole.

She had already lost consciousness.

Only after a long session of CPR the lifeguard was able to make her expel all the water.

-Thanks to you they got me out,- Eighteen admitted, with a small smile.

-No, it was the lifeguard...-

But _he_ had called Kate, _he_ had seen her disappear underground.

Eighteen had been cured and that fall into the pool full of golden sparks had become just a heart attack episode to add to Kate's collection, along with their birth and the time Seventeen had nearly choked and many more.

So many adventures that both of them had archived, but which once again reminded them how important they were to each other.

Only the innate vigilance with which Seventeen always followed her movements had saved Eighteen.

/

Thoughts of the author:

As a DB fan I like transformations and since in Super we see a marked improvement for our dear Lapis, why not invent one for Lazuli as well. So we see T-1000 ehm, "Super 18" still in killer mode. The last time it was in chapter 15 with Cloe Mafia, a very different situation from this one but equally satisfying to write.

Here I also mention #8, the "Frankenstein" who appeared in Dragon Ball.

Some sources say he is an android like 16, others that he is a cyborg created from a corpse. I opted to have him as a cyborg when he appears here.


	30. Relationship Status pt1

The flat in Saint-Paul was silent and half-empty. Elliott was busy typing that damn email; he had been glued to his computer for more than ten minutes.

That blank page scared him, it seemed to suck him in and Elliott could not help but stare.

He mustn't have high hopes. It was a personal request, yes, not on behalf of the Royal Nature Park, perhaps that was the heart of the stress. In any case, if things were to turn out as he had expected, what he'd get out of it would be useful information, extra general knowledge.

_Dear Miss De Villiers,_

No, perhaps calling her by surname would ruffle her. She was young...

Elliott could write the email introduction even after, the body of the text was what mattered. It was the simple matter of conducting an interview and, if possible, observe specimens. If Elliott were told _no_ it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Yet his hands were shaking.

Brawny, fat, fair-skinned hands.

Looking at his hands Elliott thought about his best friend and understood that he was definitely an _anti-Brent_: squishy, blond-ish, short, with a mop of hair that was neither curly or straight, but had a life of its own; a heavy derriere, rounder and higher than most girls'.

He wasn't anyone's aesthetic dream.

And knowing that he was so ugly, so unmanly and unappealing, Elliott realised that the real reason for his fear wasn't the interview.

It was the person he was supposed to interview.

The paleontologist finished to draft his email and, hearing that his best friend had come home, knocked hard on the bathroom door.

-Hey Bre, you back? Can you help me a moment?-

The shower water ran copiously, but the noise wasn't so loud as to justify the lack of response.

-Come on, you ugly stinking goat, wrap it up with the shower. I need you.-

Brent and Elliott were friends from high school and used to call each other charming names, an expression of friendship as old as their friendship itself.

Too late Elliott realised he had disturbed the wrong _ugly stinking goat_. He stared at the other roommate, standing in the doorway, eyebrows in _supreme pissing_ position and body proudly uncovered by any type of towel or bathrobe.

-Hey, Sev-o ... where's Brent?-

Elliott knew he shouldn't expect an answer; Sev shut the door in his face without batting an eye.

The sense of inadequacy once again hit the poor paleontologist. If he was an _anti-Brent_, imagine if he wasn't also an _anti-Sev_.

Elliott would accept help from anyone tonight, but the one roommate around didn't seem particularly well disposed. Elliott was still in the way when Seventeen came out of the bathroom, this time wrapped in a towel.

-...I can't sleep Sev!-

-Then don't.-

That was the last thing Elliott heard him say before he was left alone in the hallway again.

/

The evening was crisp, perhaps that plain linen shirt he had hastily sewn the past week was a little too light.

Brent was shivering: he wanted to show off the stylized _vegvisir_ embroidery on his chest, this was the second date and he wanted to be at his best. His plain shirt was neither too pretentious nor overly elegant for a night out at the pub, but it flattered his tall frame and let the shape of his big pecs show through, even showing some reddish hairs here and there.

They had an appointment there at the pub, _she_ hadn't wanted him to go pick her up.

_"God forbid you think I'm your girlfriend!"_ she had stated curtly.

The first date had been as friends and _she_ demanded that it be the case for the second too. Brent was ok with that, he was in no hurry, he could easily let the girl of his dreams dictate the pace; he wasn't anxious to achieve certain goals, she was worth the wait.

After all, the last time she had been with anyone it was that jackass, Joel.

Brent understood that Lillian was in no hurry to undress for him.

/

-Will you hurry up? Don't keep the poor fella waiting.-

Carly was getting motion sickness from Lillian running from one side of her studio flat to the other. She pretended not to be wired "because it was just Brent", but the way she was obsessively looking for hairpins and for her lucky bra suggested otherwise.

-It's because I always want to be beautiful. For me, not for that guy.-

_"Sure ..."_

Carly watched her from the sofa, ready for a Saturday of movies and rest. She wanted to enjoy all the peace she could, she had taken a break from studying. Lillian too was on holiday and had gone down to North City in the morning to spend time with her.

Lapis wanted to spend that evening by himself; he and Carly had always done that, some evenings together, others alone.

-Anyway, in three days it's New Year's Eve. You and Brent could come with us to see the fireworks.-

-Where?-

-Down here.-

There was a reason why Lillian was nervous. And yes, in a way it was about Brent. She and Carly had already discussed the subject, but now there were positions to rethink.

-I'm thinking of starting with the pill…-

Carly was genuinely surprised. What happened to _not wanting synthetic hormones in her system_?

-So you have plans for Brent …- she giggled mischievously, rolling up a lock of hair so long that her finger got entangled.

Lillian was grateful for that little oversight that killed some tension.

-No, I'm doing it for me! A year ago...you don't know what real terror is until you spend weeks waiting for your period to come, and then when it comes, you thank God…-

Lillian wanted it not to happen again.

-A year ago you risked a pregnancy and you haven't even told me?-

Carly was a little upset, however it would have ended there if Lillian hadn't retorted,

-Er, you don't wanna know.-

Carly let out a gasp of shock, her pretty lips drawing a circle; the former top ranger began to worry when she saw her jump off the sofa and aim for her, with a threatening grimace.

Lillian bit her tongue: she always blabbered, she talked too much. Was there really any need for her to give Carly that kind of detail? Had she expected her best friend would not understand?

Lillian looked at her, now quite far from her usual being _angry-but-adorable: _shewas _pissed_, ready to give her a beating.

Lillian backed away cautiously, -Carly, Carly, no, wait, wasn't it water under the bridge?-

-YOU IMBECILE...HOW COULD YOU!-

Carly was now running after her.

-Don't you blame only me! Ahhh!-

Ready or not, Brent was waiting for her. And there was no better time to jump out the door and safely into the car, before that hellcat put her cute hands on her.

/

-May I?-

-No.-

The paleontologist ignored the answer and let himself in Seventeen's room; he was sick of seething alone in front of that email. Elliott found the top ranger lying flat on his bed, lights off, TV on, surrounded by several chocolate bars and bags of popcorn .

-If you're here for my Kit Kat, leave _now_.-

-Hahaha! I'm fat, you have Kit Kat bars, so funny…-

Elliott temporised, staring absently at the TV. Frames of bloody zombies running around in the night amused him. -_I Am Legend_. Sweet.-

Elliott was about to reveal to Seventeen why he had disturbed him when the latter interrupted him.

Seventeen opened the text message he had just received, a hand raised to invite Elliott to wait.

_We need to talk._

Words so hermetic to unsettle him.

-What's up?-

Elliott sat noisily on his roommate's bed, earning a puzzled look.

-It's Carly.-

Elliott watched Seventeen shake his head as he typed his answer:

_Tomorrow. Can you wait for tomorrow?_

It looked like Carly was mad. Her sudden answer cleared up doubts about her state of mind:

_Do you have company by any chance? At least ask her if she's on the pill before proceeding._

Elliott, who was peeking, nearly had a heart attack, -Er, Sev...what did you do?-

Seventeen didn't even listen to Elliott, a helpless rage built up inside of him. Was Carly accusing him of cheating on her?

_"What the fuck..."_

He called Carly, but the line rang empty.

Standing in the dark corridor Seventeen looked furious, absolutely unapproachable. He didn't care that Elliott was listening, he didn't give Carly time to retort:

"What does that mean ... What the fuck are you saying! You can say anything about me, but accusing me of cheating on you? You're out of your mind. "

When Seventeen changed rooms, Elliott felt troubled by that turmoil.

_"Holy shit, he's in trouble. Yet he didn't seem that kind of guy...did he really cheat on Carly? "_

He looked at the Kit Kat stash; if he had pocketed one, Seventeen wouldn't have noticed. Dark chocolate, so scrumptious...

But the young roommate came back without Elliott noticing. He didn't think he'd ever see Seventeen so upset, he was almost afraid he would go and take it out on him. It was too late to put down the Kit Kat.

-Look, you seem like a nice guy, but get things clear with her, it's unfair that she thinks badly of you. Speaking of girls ... please, Sev, can you tell me if this is okay? I have to send it to a girl ... -

Seventeen was bitter and disappointed, feelings he wasn't used to. He had his flaws, but cheating on his girlfriend was something that had never crossed his mind.

When Carly had told him she didn't consider _cheating_ the misunderstanding with Lillian Seventeen had felt so relieved, it had been almost surreal.

There were two options, either to gut the whole building or to seek a distraction; delighted with his unusual self-control, the cyborg quickly read the email draft on Elliott's cell phone.

He knew his emotional intelligence wasn't particularly developed, but what Elliott had written didn't sound like a romantic request.

-You're contacting this person for business, why do you need me?-

-Because the person I'm writing to is basically your equivalent in the MIR,...-

-I have no hell is the _MIR_?-

The confused and anxious way in which Elliott told the facts was irritating him.

Between Carly and Elliott, Seventeen had had to put _I Am Legend _on hold at the very scene that gave him the most anxiety, the death of Sam the dog.

-The _Monster Island Rangers. _Sure, Defiance is not quite like you because you are virtually a machine, but I can't introduce myself badly: she's the daughter of Charles De Villiers, the Major. Those people are not pleb like us.-

_"Don't call me a plebby."_

Did the concept of social class still exist in the 21st century? Seventeen ignored the unconscious comparison that had just come out of his roommate's mouth, while Elliott kept talking:

-This one's a very smart, very hot girl: in short, if she agreed to be interviewed it would be huge for me.-

-And what can _I _do for you?-

If Elliott wanted to meet someone to talk about paleontology, he could do it himself.

-Because you're the only mate I have who has a girlfriend…-

Seventeen looked at him haughtily, -I've already read everything. Text body's too long, if you want an interview just ask her for the interview. And now give that Kit Kat back to me.-

_"How the hell does he know? "_

Elliott parted from the dark chocolate bar, edited the email, and finally hit _send_.

Since Seventeen didn't send him away, Elliott sat down and focused on_ I Am Legend,_ until sleep overcame him.

When he woke up it was almost 1 in the morning; he found Seventeen still watching movies. He was not through with his snacks yet.

-Well...aren't you going to bed? Are you sure all those calories before sleeping are good for you?-

Fat Elliott talking to him about calories, how sweet.

-I do what I please. And your cell was ringing.-

Without doing it on purpose, Seventeen had seen the preview of an email.

The Major's daughter had agreed to be interviewed.

/

Elliott's first reaction, once he got off the plane, was to shield his eyes from a very violent light. It was not a spotlight in his face, it was not even a dazzling reflection. It was simply the Southern sun.

Miss De Villiers had told him to land on Amenbo Island instead of South City, the way to Monster Island would be shorter from there.

During the flight, the elderly lady sitting by the window had told Elliott that if one has lived all their life in a gloomy place, the Southern light could be blinding.

Elliott had not grown up among the shadows but in the altitude of his mountains, where there was no shortage of sunshine and the sun was strong and close: yet that light shining above the other end of the world was something never seen before. Colours were clearer, as if stripped of a filter, so pure that they hurt.

-We are only in December, there is not so much light now…-, the same lady chuckled, walking with Elliott towards the airport exit.

Defiance De Villiers had told him she would pick him up herself to avoid wasting time. Before taking off from North City, the paleontologist had sent her his best photo, the official one from his resume.

"_This is what I look like," _he had written to her, embarrassed.

Elliott waited near the kerb, eyes ready to spot a black SUV sporting the SANP insignia. When he saw it, Elliott reached out to signal Miss De Villiers to wait for him; he would walk to her. His gestures were interrupted by the opening of a door, and the first thing Elliott saw were her legs.

Tapering legs, strong and sleek, and most of all naked: the paleontologist's gaze went up to the military green shorts, up to a tank top with the initials MIR, up and up to facial features drawn by a masterful brush. A face worth of a movie star.

Finally, poor Elliott's gaze followed the movements of a dark brown mane, blowing free in the warm wind.

The amazing apparition who had left the man gaping like a dead fish was now approaching; Defiance smiled, amused and almost modest at seeing another man-fish merging, -Mr. Gontier?-

Elliott knew the head MIR's face from pictures; he knew she was beautiful, really beautiful but up close, in real life, she blew him away. Elliott couldn't even think about what he was going to tell Brent. That one was a Valkyrie, very tall, majestic, it was impossible not to look at her. In some ways, perhaps because of her bearing and chiselled facial features she reminded him of the diaphanous blonde who had come to Saint-Paul a year before, even though this one was a brunette. Elliott struggled to imagine anyone more beautiful than Defiance De Villiers was; that blonde, in fact, was perhaps the only one who could compete with her..

Elliott was bewitched.

Now she was smiling at him: damn, was she really smiling at him?

_"Brunette Valkyrie all the way, over and out."_

Elliott was still waiting for a disgusted grimace to appear on that flawless face. Defiance, on the other hand, was waiting for her guest to stop gaping:

-Sir, let's go! I left work to pick you up but I don't have the whole day. Come with me to the car.-

Elliott wanted to have a conversation with her, he wanted to be polite, he wanted to tell her that he was only thirty-two and therefore he was no "Sir". But all his brain could process was a frivolous and useless question: trying not to let his eye fall on the seat belt, resting on Miss De Villiers's bosom, Elliott stared back at her legs and noticed the position of her seat:

-Er, Defiance, how tall are you?-

-183 cm; how was your flight?-

Defiance became aware of the tension that tormented that man coming from afar.

-Relax, Mr. Gontier, I don't want to have you for breakfast,- she pointed to the quaint town with cobblestone roads they were passing through. -This is the Sienna Bay, the port is around the corner, we'll take the ferry soon.-

-Will I...be able to see any specimens today?-

-Of course. We have mega-rexes and pteranodraxes.-

/

Elliott watched the trail of foamy water drawn by the ferry across that piece of ocean. They had parked the SUV in the hold and climbed onto the deck to enjoy the scenery. The bay formed a crescent, it looked like a postcard. Elliott was grateful that the great presence of all that nature distracted him from Defiance's. The ferry passed by a gigantic tower of dark rock, around which the waters were more agitated.

-What is that?-

Defiance basked in the sunlight, sitting on the railing of the deck,

-It's Cape Moor. Do you know why there are always high waves there? I won't bore you with physics, but in a nutshell, just below the surface of the sea lies a very deep canyon, which does not break the waves coming from the open ocean, on the contrary, it favours their height.-

She assured Elliott that a couple of days in the South would be enough to understand how frightening the power of the water element could be.

Later, when the ferry touched the sacred shores of Monster Island, the excitement gave Elliott goosebumps. That was a part of the world that was still brimming with archaic life, it was unbelievable. Just like the girl who ran it, no photograph could prepare for the real-life version.

Elliott slung his go-pro over his shoulder and followed Defiance into the jungle aboard the SUV, in search of dinosaurs. It didn't take them long to brake before a large three-fingered footprint.

-What do you say, Miss? For me it's a mega-rex.-

They both left the vehicle to look at the print. Elliott filmed and photographed, Defiance explained to his camera how the _MI division_ had acquired those dinosaurs.

-Am I wrong or is that a pteranodrax nest?- Elliott stated, looking up at a distant hill beyond the treetops. -Shall we go and see?-

Climbing and huffing along the path that the MIR regularly walked to check out pteranodraxes, Elliott and Defiance crossed paths with other rangers. Unlike in the RNP, the MIR were mostly men. Elliott wondered if it was difficult for Defiance to be their leader, as a woman that young rarely commanded a handful of veterans.

-Can I help?-

He attempted to grab the rucksack from Defiance's shoulders, dominated by a heavy contraption resembling a large harpoon gun. She dodged, used to climbing there alone,

-If you wonder why I brought the hook launcher with me...I hope I won't need to show.-

Hearing a distant rumble, Elliott felt drowsy with excitement.

From up there one could see the sea and the paleontologist's gaze was caught by a large white ship facing another, the echo that could be heard so far must have been cannons.

The white ship bore the effigy of the South City Coast Guard, on its large flag a white star stood out.

His heart raced. He couldn't believe it ...

Defiance enjoyed watching him turn into dead fish a second time:

-As I said to John Dubochet, Monster Island never rests, raiders attack day and night. The white ship is the commander's White Star.-

-We can meet her, right?-

His gaze shone like that of a child in a candy store. He was in the company of Defiance De Villiers, seeing with his own eyes the cruiser of Malina Klintsov-Samuels in action.

His life had never been that exciting.

He even forgot the dinosaur nest they had arrived at.

Go-pro always in action, Elliott squatted behind a rock:

-Here, you see how big she is? If mama pteranodrax stood up, she'd be as tall as a giraffe. Let's see if we can get closer…-

Defiance wanted to hold Mr. Gontier back; she thought it would be stupid to get even closer to the nest to film the creature from another angle. Instinctively, she touched the solid climbing rope harness she had strapped to her waist, and all the snap-hooks she had attached to it.

Defiance had experience with dinosaurs, she knew Elliott had to get away before the creature, brooding its eggs, noticed him.

The sound of a twig trodden by the heavy foot of the Northerner was enough to prompt the pteranodrax to attack: with a stride that completely erased the distance covered by Elliott with a sudden run, the animal grabbed him with its mighty feet and hovered in the air, set to dart away.

-No!-

Defiance had to act fast. She knew exactly which protocol to follow, but it would be her first time.

_"Excuse me, mother pteranodrax."_

The grappling hook shot through the air and hooked onto a scale of the animal's tail. The long rope zigzagged and stretched as the dinosaur moved away, Defiance made sure all the snap-hooks were in the right place and braced for the whiplash, clutching the rope in her hands and hunching her back.

When the length of the rope ran out and the girl was yanked up into the air, the force of the pull squeezed her lungs and made her arch backwards.

-Ahhh! It's a monster!- shouted Elliott, feeling sure the pteranodrax would drop him at any moment.

Meanwhile, attached to the dinosaur like a spy on a helicopter ladder, Defiance grabbed her walkie-talkie and yelled into the wind:

"_Code red. Pteranodrax airborne with a civilian. Force its trajectory towards the lagoon. "_

Meanwhile, from the ground, all the rangers and tourists on the island had looked up to the sky, caught by that unusual sight.

-The king of the sky, ladies and gentlemen, the pteranodrax,- a tour guide announced, sharpening his eyes at hearing a scream muffled with the distance. -And our Defiance.-

Another park ranger rounded up the troops; together, the MIR set up some kind of large-calibre weapon on trestles and soon both Defiance and Elliott saw myriads of darts sticking into the dinosaur's body, just as the beast flew over a lagoon.

-Calm down!- Defiance yelled, trying to swing towards the animal's feet.

-We're going' to crash!- Elliott whimpered, absolutely unable to move.

The tranquilizers acted quickly and soon the pteranodrax lost altitude. With an extraordinary lucky strike, Elliott fell like a stone into some kind of pond as the dinosaur landed on a nearby boulder and fell asleep.

The impact with the water hurt like hell: Elliot had fallen from above and had met the shallow gravel bed of the body of water. But other than cuts and bruises, he was in good health. He remembered that he hadn't been the dinosaur's only passenger:

-Miss De Villiers?!-

The lagoon lay in a depression in the ground and Elliott was unable to climb the ring of rock that surrounded it.

"_There, she's dead. She crashed. And it's all my fault… "_

He saw a helicopter pass overhead and heard many sirens approaching.

Soon he saw a ladder unrolling from the top of the cliff. A silver-haired man leaned over to make sure Elliott wasn't already a broken corpse:

-Are you all right down there?-

/

Defiance was alive and well. She hadn't managed to undo all the snap-hooks in time and had gotten entangled in the foliage of the jungle surrounding the lagoon. The grappling hook was still attached to the dinosaur.

When Elliott and the man who had rescued him came, they saw that other rangers were untying their chief from her tangle of leaves and ropes. Elliott saw her walk normally and look at her bruised hands. He wanted to run to her and hug her, relieved to see she was fine.

-You're alive!-

Elliott could not hold back his relief: to hell with the polite turn of phrases he had hitherto employed.

"_She attached herself to a flying dinosaur, crashed and is still standing. Wow. That's Sev-ish. "_

-Next time listen to her and don't get too close to a pteranodrax,- the silver-haired MIR admonished him. -She risked her neck for you.-

Defiance herself wasn't mad at Elliott. Sitting in the back seat of the medical car she watched the nurse treat her hands.

Maybe she had to invest in a pair of gloves: clenching the rope with her bare hands, and so hard, had hurt.

Both victims of the accident were treated and immediately discharged: fortunately, their injuries were superficial.

-Why didn't you force the dinosaur to land in the forest?-

Elliott didn't realise he was really associating Defiance with Seventeen. By transitive property perhaps, he thought that she too could be capable of anything.

However, the _top MIR_ looked at him as if he said nonsense.

-'Forced the dinosaur to land?' I don't know if you realise the strength of those beasts, Mr. Gontier. It is humanly impossible to overwhelm _a dinosaur_. I should be kind of a machine.-

As the day drew to a close, the plebeian Northerner and the noble Southerner walked towards her bungalow.

Defiance was different from what Elliott had pictured after the brief email exchange. He had expected a more authoritarian personality, a more martial way of doing things. Instead she was much more approachable than Lillian, she seemed as comfortable with him as he was with her.

The _MI division _was also different from the rest of the SANP and the RNP: inside there were no towns and villages apart from the tourist lodges and the accommodation of the MIRs and other staff: whoever was stationed there lived alone.

-Our families don't live here with us, mine is in South City for instance. Some of us have relatives on other islands in the district. Monster Island is dangerous for those who are not trained.-

Evening was coming down. Elliott watched other coastlines light up, where the homes of the MIR families were to be.

The go-pro was miraculously intact, it was still filming.

-Defiance, you're the chief ranger, but how did you end up here? Tell me about your career.-

-For me it all started as a child, when my mother bought this land to restore it: Monster Island already existed many years ago, but it had fallen into disuse and she was keen to restore it to its former glory. I have always been intrigued by this place, I used to come here with my parents, but before working here I served two years in the Royal Navy, with my father.-

-Let's remind them how old you are, Defiance,- Elliott interrupted, full of admiration.

-In January I will be twenty-three. I served from my eighteenth to my twentieth birthday, then I realised I wanted to do more. In the meantime, my mother and commander Klintsov-Samuels decreed that the island was a particularly popular target for raiders, so the MIR were born. We are former soldiers.-

Defiance was born with a heart defect for which doctors had given her a few weeks to live, despite having been successfully operated on shortly after birth.

-I always felt that I had something to prove, that I could leave my footprint on the world even with this handicap. I can't try as hard as I would like, but I'm doing anything,- smiled the young woman.

Then she turned serious and reached out a hand to the go-pro, still installed on Elliott's shoulder.

-You didn't film this too, did you?-

-Of course I did, it's part of your story.-

Elliott asked her how she and her co-workers managed a territory so large and full of creatures that could also be dangerous.

-Everything you see and hear is military discipline.-

Defiance conducted her interview with a smile, but deep down she was frustrated: during the dino situation there had been no time to coordinate a proper rescue:

-What happened today, with you being left in the lagoon, was extremely risky; we didn't have time to set up a net, the beast was too fast and too powerful. I hope you'll excuse us, Elliott.-

Elliott was touched by those words; the MIR had done everything humanly possible, counting the lack of time and also the fact that everything had happened because of him. If he hadn't approached the dinosaur, as she had told him, no one would have been in trouble.

-I'm the one who must apologise. I'm out of place, I'm in the way of you rangers. Well then, we'll continue the interview tomorrow before I catch my plane, for today we have had enough. Thank you so much for everything.-

He knew he had to go, but he felt disappointed to have to take the ferry back to the hotel. There was still something he wanted to do, and he lacked courage. It was something that scared him even more than a crash aboard a flying monster. Elliott already knew he was hopelessly attracted to her, but how could he, a measly 5 hope to get anywhere near a solid 10?

And beauty was the bare minimum, he had even shown her to be a wimp.

Yet, Elliott did not take a step further from the threshold of that bungalow at the heart of the MIR quarters:

-Defiance ... would you-…-

-Yes, sure. Let's go to the bar on the square, it will be full of tourists but it doesn't matter.-

/

Sitting at the bar, Elliott and Defiance laughed at each other, telling anecdotes.

-How did you know I wanted to have a drink with you? And why did you accept?-

he yelled, trying to be heard over the loud music.

-Well, we both need some entertainment; today and tomorrow we work together, it's fine.-

Tension was starting to hit the paleontologist again. Gazing up close at the delightful caramel of her skin, at the reflection of the lights in her gypsy eyes was already an enormous privilege; he had to be realistic, girls like Defiance didn't belong with boys like him.

_"Do you think she's gonna give it to me?"_ Brent had said about Seventeen's sister. And Brent was already a hard 7 or even an 8, virtually a god.

The sight of a bowl of olives and a bunch of toothpicks put Elliott out of his misery: he pierced through the olives with the sharp sticks, forming a fairly regular cube.

-What you up to?- Defiance rested her chin on the counter, giving herself a better angle to glance at the 3D sculpture.

-I'm showing you my superpower. What's yours?-

Everyone had a secret talent: Brent could cook, Carly was practically a sniper, Lillian was a former Olympic champion. And Seventeen was...Seventeen.

Defiance accepted the challenge and ordered the bartender to serve her a pint of her favourite red beer.

When she had the glass in her hands, the ranger girl fiddled with her watch and got ready to start the stopwatch.

-This is mine, watch and learn. Press here.-

As soon as Elliott's finger started the stopwatch, Defiance started chugging her pint. She drank nonchalantly, without dribbling, lifting her little finger as if she were sipping tea from a cup. She set the empty glass on the counter with a sigh and began to cough. Elliott placed his hand thoughtfully on her back:

-Don't choke now!-

He just hoped she didn't ask him to get up until the manifestation aroused by that brief contact had flattened out. The stopwatch showed the number 3.04 in clear figures. THREE SECONDS.

_"Ok, she's definitely Sev-ish."_

He looked at her, amused -Is this your superpower?-

-It's not much, but do you know anyone else who can do what I did in three seconds?- she crossed her arms across her chest, smiling contentedly.

-Er… my roommate can, but he's nowhere as classy as you are.-

-Obviously. Wait, are you telling me I drink like a man?-

Here, he knew. He had offended her. Now Defiance would be gone, waving the pretty pockets on her rear, and she wouldn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. But Defiance didn't move, she smoothed her hair and fumbled to tie it into a braid.

-Relax! You can tell me, because it's true!-

/

Ronan couldn't decide whether to give the present to his Kate on New Year's Eve or now. He sat on the bed in their hotel room, turning the box over in his hands while she was in the shower.

But he couldn't wait any longer, even for a few more days. He was bursting with the desire to give her that gift, but he was also very afraid that she would not accept it.

Kate was a very pragmatic woman, at first sight she seemed unapproachable; however, she had a heart of gold. Ronan was afraid not of her, but of his own disappointment.

He heard her come out of the shower and sit on the bed, -I'm done, Ron. Sorry for taking so long.-

Ronan turned to look at her as she combed her damp hair, so black it looked blue. Love overcame him when she smiled at him.

Kate was happy. Really happy.

And seeing that happiness on her face undid him completely.

Without saying anything, Ronan went down on one knee; took her hand.

-Ron?-

In his other hand, Ronan held a red velvet box. In the middle was a delicate gold and aquamarine ring.

-Kathryn Alix Lang, will you marry me?-

Kate was completely blown away. She was moved by her companion's gesture, but she didn't know what to say.

-Oh Ronnie ... thank you.-

Thank you.

_Thank you?_

Kate had foreseen that her lack of response might have offended Ronan, but she didn't know how to tell him what she really thought.

And she was saddened to see him withdraw the box, snap it close, get up and walk towards the window.

-...I'm sorry, Ronan.-

-We've been together for a year. We both know what we want, we're no longer kids playing hide and seek. We love each other. Why can't you give me an answer?-

-Ronan, we're not even living together…-

Kate didn't want to dig deep into the reasons that made her lean toward _no_. However, she knew she owed her sweet, dear Ronan her complete honesty.

-...I don't want to screw it up. We're happy the way we are, without getting caught in marriage. Marriages separate people, they don't unite them. My mother, two marriages gone wrong. One of my sisters divorced after nine months. I don't want this for us.-

Tears stormed Kate's field of vision as she recalled those painful memories.

-Yet you didn't tell this to your daughter. When she got married you didn't tell her that she had ruined her life. Why are you saying this to me instead? Why do you think we will fail?-

Kate clenched her fists and pounded them against her thighs.

-Because you are immature. You can't take no for an answer, why are you asking me something if you already know what you want to hear?-

Ah, so the real answer was _no_.

Obviously it wasn't what Ronan had hoped for, but it was still an answer. Not a_ thank you_, to avoid a reply.

Kate was relieved to see him sigh, take off his large square glasses to wipe away a small tear.

For a moment she hoped he would take it well and forget the first thing she had said to him. Kate hoped Ronan would sit down with her and talk. But she felt her heart turn to lead as he passed her by and headed for the door.

-I need to take a walk. See you at dinner.-

Kate was left alone and disconsolate watching the snow falling outside the window, soft luminous oblivion.

She knew the real deal wasn't the fear of ruining her relationship with Ronan. In that moment she knew that she had never changed, and that perhaps she never would.

Kate had always shied away from relationships when they started getting serious. She had done that in the past when she was young and hot-headed.

And now, old and still alone, she had done it again.

/

Thoughts of the author:

This chapter takes stock of the situation for a few characters and for this reason it is nice and long; y'all don't know how much I enjoyed writing it, especially with Carly who for once is not cutesy (even the tough Lillian got scared) and with Mr. Elliott Gontier's (mis)adventures.

With him I deal with something that almost everyone feels, insecurity.

Elliott is physically not a sex symbol and his personality is meek, when he decides to give it a try with a girl whom he judges "too much" for him, his insecurities overcome him.

But he's not alone. Brent feels insecure too, Carly too, Kate too. And in other chapters Lillian, Krillin, Lapis and Lazuli too.

I think it's normal and SO common, and I wanted to talk about it, especially since there is a lot of talk out there about women feeling inadequate, but much less about men.

Elliott plays geomag with toothpicks and Defiance knows how to down pints in record time: we all have hidden talents (mine is folding my tongue in three).


	31. Relationship Status pt2

-Boy, their little girl's got weird taste…-

-Since when has she been able to do _that_?-

-Shhhhhhh, don't ask.-

Master Roshi, Puar and Yamcha watched little Marron clap her hands and laugh heartily, while her parents played with her.

All three, as well as Turtle, knew nothing about children, yet they thought that Krillin's daughter was peculiar: she liked to watch her father and mother give each other a beating on the beach. She liked it even more when Eighteen trained to transform parts of her body into blades and spikes: mum glistened in the sun, she looked _spectacular_.

It had happened that Marron and Krillin had accidentally seen her when transformed.

Like the other day, when Eighteen had been warned by Sixteen that one of the reborn androids would pass by there: she had intercepted him up in the sky, flying towards him and slicing him in two before it even realised that _Super 18 _was hurling full speed toward it. No one had recognised which android that was, when a piece of it had fallen not far from Roshi's beach. Krillin had had the satisfaction of incinerating the carcass, and Eighteen had set foot on the ground under the shocked eyes of all the Kame House inhabitants. Only Marron had seemed amused by her blade-arm.

And now she was laughing again, before the same astonished gaze of everyone, while her mother reached out a finger and slowly, the finger became a long sharp rod.

-Don't get too close to her little face, babe. You never know…- Krillin worried, pinching Marron's cheek.

Eighteen felt vaguely offended by those words: her daughter was perfectly safe with her, indeed; Marron risked to hurt herself in her explorations, if anything. From what Sara and Kate had told her, a baby exactly four months old rolling around in an attempt to crawl was definitely unheard of. But Marron wanted so much to crawl, at that rate she would be able to do it before her next month-versary.

Marron was a regular human-type Earthling. Eighteen thought that she might have inherited from Krillin the predisposition to develop some serious strength, the changes she herself had undergone hadn't touched her DNA. Eighteen wasn't sure, but she refused to think about having her baby girl tested.

Marron had to grow up happy and normal, teaching her to fight would have been something that would help her stay healthy and defend herself. Marron was just a child, and as such she would grow up: dressed as a child, loving childish things, behaving like a child.

Krillin was relieved to have the same vision as his wife: he wouldn't want to live a situation like that of his best friend and Chi-Chi. The fights over how to raise children were a problem his Eighteen hadn't even created for him.

Sara had warned Eighteen on a delicate subject, couple time.

_"We all go through it, because it's human: with a baby it will be more difficult to take care of your marriage, but you have to, always."_

Sara was a true friend, even if she didn't know Eighteen was the ultimate mother: she never tired, she could take care of both Marron and the marriage without having a nervous breakdown. And given what Eighteen read on the internet and heard from other mothers she met at the paediatrician's and at playgroups, that was bliss.

Although Marron sometimes unnerved her with her tantrums, how lucky Eighteen was to make it to the end of the day still fresh, after making the baby play, nursing her, taking care of her: as soon as she could she pounced on Krillin, because she missed him.

Whenever they managed to make love undisturbed, Eighteen thought back to the fears she had had: how could he still find her sexy after seeing her give birth?

And Krillin, for his part, did not even think about that. Whenever he was with her he didn't see a body twisted by extreme physical conditions, he saw his beautiful wife: he still happened to be moved when she undressed and waited for him, naked and dainty.

Perhaps things between them were too rosy: he too had expected to have to push their couple time aside, but it hadn't happened.

How many could enjoy such a great privilege?

-And so today is New Year's Eve ... what do you want to do, Kril?-

Marron had fallen asleep in the baby carrier, tied to her mother's chest, and Eighteen was free to flutter with Krillin on the surface of the ocean.

-On Amenbo Island, not far away, they have some serious fireworks every year, you can see them in the distance even from here,- he uttered, searching the Net.

-If you like fireworks but want to get out of the South, then you get some good ones in North City. With concerts too.-

-I'd say 'that far?'- Eighteen laughed, thinking that no place in the world was really out of reach for them.

-Have you ever been to North City? I've only seen it from afar,- Krillin recalled, thinking of that day when he and the other _Z Warriors_ had searched for Gero in those mountains.

-Just passed by.-

Eighteen suddenly remembered her last moments before meeting Krillin, when Seventeen had stolen that pink van. Had it really happened in North City?

Krillin was browsing the image gallery of the search engine after searching for "North City fireworks".

Both of them, in a moment, decided that spending the New Year among snow-capped peaks would be quite exciting.

With a wink, they set to pack their bags: the fireworks and the concerts would start at 8 pm, Northern time, they didn't have much time to waste.

/

While Eighteen and Krillin packed their bags for New Year's Eve, on Amenbo Island Elliott had just printed out his boarding pass. It was time to go home, Brent had even bought him tickets to go see the fireworks.

-I can't take you any further, but thank you for coming down here,- Defiance was with him near the automatic gates that separated the transit areas of the Sienna Bay airport from the security area.

Elliott didn't feel like zipping open his hand luggage, taking off his shoes and jacket, and going through the metal detector. But there was something else that displeased him even more, he didn't even have the guts to think about it.

-Thanks to you for the interview,- the paleontologist smiled at the head MIR, holding to his trusty go-pro. -I'd like to stay and see more dinosaurs, more Monster Island, but my visa expires today.-

A visa, a tourist one in his case, was required to enter Monster Island right now, but Defiance hoped that it wouldn't always be the case.

She looked with her smiling eyes at Elliott's melancholic face; they stood looking at each other without speaking for a couple of minutes before the speaker announced that he had to hurry.

-Go, don't miss the plane on New Year's Eve. You celebrate with your friends, right?-

-And you?-

-I don't know... pretty good pyrotechnics are happening here.-

Would she have been alone?

Like a kid about to board his first flight, parting ways with his parents, Elliott didn't take his eyes off Defiance as he entered the security area, until she disappeared behind a wall.

/

Defiance had driven him there early. It was better this way, December 31st could accumulate lots of delays, she had warned him. Elliott spent a lot of time sitting not far from the gate, waiting for the airport staff to open the boarding. He felt bitter; he couldn't pinpoint why, he had spent two days of pure adventure: he had seen real dinosaurs, he had been swept off by a pteranodrax, he had dove in a crystalline lagoon, in the pocket of his trousers there were still a few pebbles. He had met the MIR, he had shook hands with the legendary Malina Klintsov and had stayed up late with the daughter of Major De Villiers, who had told him so many anecdotes.

Elliott would return to the North richer. It had been a priceless experience, he would never forget it. Now he was ready for a little relaxation, it had been two intense, exhausting days. Still, he was sorry to leave. He didn't feel ready to leave yet: he wanted to take another trip inside the island, he wanted to spend more time at the bar with Defiance.

Defiance...

Elliott listened absently to the notice of the intercontinental flight that would bring him directly home, safe, among his friends who were already waiting for him. The sense of bitterness fermented in anxiety: Elliott stamped his feet and sweated, queuing under the monitor that announced

_"NORTH CITY, 18:00"_

He wished he could touch her olive skin once again, perhaps he also wished he could hug her, kiss her.

His heart was beating hard, so hard that it covered the confusion of the airport and the voice of the stewardess at the gate.

-Passport, sir?-

Through the large windows of the terminal the paleontologist looked at planes taking off, landing or taxiing; he handed the document to the stewardess.

-Have a nice trip, sir.-

The woman smiled at the big guy in front of her, handing him back his passport.

Elliott was dazed: the crescent-shaped terminal let him see everything, the runways, the arcades of the airport, the people who parked in the fast parking area, a policeman who came to give them a fine, tall coaches, people coming and going.

-Sir, please board the plane.-

A black car. An SUV. A tall girl, leaning against the SANP insignia, looked at the sea. Elliott felt his heart drop down to his feet.

-Sir, are you alright?-

The stewardess had seen that passenger suddenly turn white and try to get out of the line.

-Be careful where you go!- protested a man Elliott stepped on, as he ran out of the gate, through all the areas of the airport he had just passed through.

-Sorry! Oops... I'm sorry!-

Every now and then he bumped into someone while everyone looked at him. Elliott stumbled out of breath, his shirt sweaty, hoping with his whole being it had happened what he thought had happened, and that she hadn't driven away in the meantime.

/

Defiance had to return to Monster Island. Maybe she could even go to South City to spend New Year's Eve with her family. Her mother had sent out invitations for her usual big party back in October, Defiance knew it would be fun. New Year's parties at home were never boring, Mrs. De Villiers spent half a year organizing everything down to the smallest detail, from costumes to handcrafted glass balls to attach to various Christmas trees.

Defiance should have warned her that she would be home in a couple of hours.

-Defiance,-

The MIR girl didn't eventually have time to make the call; she reacted to her name and smiled spontaneously.

The panting paleontologist felt reborn in seeing her smile; there was nothing more beautiful in the world than the white of her smile against the caramel of her skin, of her nose curled up into that smile.

-Elliott! You stayed…-

/

As Defiance was doing thousands of miles away Carly too grinned, as Robbie's toothless ruddy face appeared as she clicked on the Skype app icon.

-Happy New Year's Eve, Miss!- chirped the boy.

-Happy New Year to you, my little Robbie.-

-Look, my tooth fell out…-

That smile made Carly's heart melt; every time she saw Robbie she realised yet again her undying love for children.

Educator Anna, to whom Robbie left only a nook in the webcam's field of view, looked embarrassed, -Sorry, Carly; he wanted to call you again. Robbie, you already called her on Christmas Eve…-

-It doesn't matter. You can call me as many times as you want.-

Carly apologized if she couldn't be on the phone much longer, that night. Hair and make-up done since 6 pm, she was waiting for Lapis to finish getting ready and then go to see New Year's Eve fireworks.

Seventeen had stayed at the studio flat to get ready with her; neatly hidden in the bathroom, he endlessly combed that hair that barely needed brushing, to avoid interacting with Anna and Robbie, wishing that Carly would soon hang up.

Anna was that girl who had seen Carly and Seventeen together the previous summer, that time Mr. Lenteney had brought walnuts to the children. Carly had inspired her and she had started talking to her. Whenever Robbie wanted to call Carly, Anna took the opportunity to say hello and chat with her.

-So will you come up to Viey next summer?- The vet looked tenderly into little Robbie's sweet eyes.

-We're already planning…-

Carly would be happy to see Anna too.

As soon as Carly hung up, Seventeen rematerialized in the main room with a satisfied expression and perfect timing, -He's the one who adopted you…-

Carly laughed, -You're such a savage.-

/

The banks of the rushing Dorée torrent were packed. Like every year people gathered there, in the heart of North City, to watch the famous fireworks and New Year's concerts.

There was music, street food trucksand some remnants of the Christmas markets.

Carly and Seventeen caught up with Lillian and Brent, standing in a disorganized queue around a truck selling roast potatoes and melted cheese.

As soon as she arrived, Carly's eye immediately fell on Lillian and her slender, kilometric legs, skilfully wrapped in black leather leggings (faux leather, of course). A padded bomber jacket, black with sequin details, covered her narrow hips, ending just above her perfect little butt.

_"Yeah. She's got the legs I want."_

Lillian didn't need heels, trendy boots protected her feet from the icy slush that covered the sidewalk.

Brent could see a little farther past the crowd, -What a queue, folks. We've been here for fifteen minutes already…-

The Viking was beginning to shiver in his layers of linen and wool.

Lillian winked at Carly, -Are you thinking what I'm thinking?-

Carly stood on the tip of her toes, -I'll take care of this.-

-What?-

Carly smiled to see that Lapis no longer recalled, -Do you remember when we'd go to the market and thanks to me we got attended first?-

Seventeen had forgotten; and the memories did not return even when Carly stepped forward and, heedless of the snow, undid her pretty pink coat and let the rest of the crowd admire her low-cut, full-skirted red dress.

She raised her hand, with a smile, to be seen by the clerk taking the orders, -Let's go.-

Watching Carly walk with Seventeen jealously encircling her shoulders, her bosom bouncing up and down with each step, on the verge of popping out, Lillian shoved her hands in her pockets.

_"Yeah. She's got the boobs I want."_

She poked Brent as she realised that his gaze had fallen on Carly's chest.

/

Soon all four took their places in the stands of the open-air theatre where the concert would soon begin.

-Guys, Elliott? What happened to him?- Lillian inquired.

-He should land soon,- Brent checked the time on his cell phone. -In any case, he knows where to find us.-

The group got comfortable as the band began to play.

/

In the interlude between the concert and the fireworks, Lillian and Brent had lost sight of Carly and Sev and she had gone to get some mulled wine from the Geirsson stall.

-Ready for the fires, Lillian?- Ulf, Brent's father asked jovially. They already knew each other, Brent had introduced her to his parents at the last Verny fair.

-And two full cups for you. Enjoy, dear!- Mrs. Geirsson smiled, passing her the wine.

As she turned to exit the queue, to her enormous embarrassment Lillian slipped on the ice and fell to the ground, sprinkling mulled wine on the snow, and on the legs of a girl passing by in high open sandals.

Her face, surprisingly not foreign, was torn between the desire to give Lillian a murderous look and the will to remain courteous anyway.

Lillian felt in awe, the same awe of when she stood in the face of a grim Seventeen, -...I stained your pants, I'm sorry.-

-It's nothing,- the passer-by retorted concisely, but not contemptuously.

Lillian caught a glimpse of her fitted trousers, light white cotton, ripped at the knees; the short faux fur coat and bustier top she wore left her stomach and chest at the elements' mercy, _"Aren't you cold?"_

-She got hurt…- said a peaceful male voice, -Are you hurt?-

A man in a duffle coat with a baby tied to his chest held out his hand and helped Lillian up.

-I'm fine, thank you! Happy New Year…- Lillian had made a fool of herself with strangers, but she wanted to keep her cool.

-Happy New Year!- The man wished her, while the girl made a quick gesture.

/

-What happened Lilli?- Brent asked gently, seeing her come back in wet leggings without mulled wine.

-I slipped and spilled the wine on some girl, go figure.-

At least with all that chaos, Lillian wouldn't have had to cross paths with that couple again...

Brent pretended to smoke, huffing and puffing in the freezing air, keeping an eye on the big screen showing a clock counting down, -There's still twenty minutes to midnight, I'm freezing! Shall we go somewhere warmer and have a drink?-

Good idea; the pub Lillian and Brent had aimed had, for a change, a long queue outside.

-Too bad I don't have tits like Carly's, right?- Lillian was curious to see how far Brent could go and deny the evidence, in his mission to win her over, -We have to wait here.-

-Or let's go to another bar. Come on.-

-Brent, haven't you really looked at her boobs? Doesn't it bother you that I'm flat?-

_Why did she care so much?_

-Yes, I looked at them but first, I only have eyes for you; second, it's not that if you can't nurse the whole of North City then you're flat.-

Brent only had eyes for her, it was nothing new...Lillian laughed at the Viking's involuntary joke, but soon came to his senses and gave him a pretend punch, -Hey, it's my best friend you're talking about!-

They were about to walk away looking for a place, when through the pub window Lillian saw Seventeen sitting at the counter with a girl. He looked comfortable and she kept touching her hair.

Lillian could only see a quarter of her face, but what she saw were chiseled outlines and neatly combed hair, tied in a top knot. If the colour of her hair and the light blue fur coat that left her belly uncovered weren't enough to make her recognisable to Lillian, the wine-spotted white pants completed the picture.

Brent saw Lillian furrow her brow and bang on the glass, -Lilli, let's go.-

-Sev!-

Lillian banged her fist against the glass, calling loudly.

The Viking peeked and saw Seventeen and his unforgettable sister (if he remembered correctly, the blonde Valkyrie who looked like him was his sister), -Calm down! He can't hear you.-

-Oh, he can hear pretty well. Sev! Goddammit!-

Lillian was right, between double glazing and confusion Seventeen had heard her indeed. When both he and the girl turned around, Lillian saw herself being stared at by two sets of identical eyes.

_"Oh my God, do I see double?"_

Lillian couldn't hear them, but she saw Seventeen burst into a big laugh, while the blonde needed both hands over her mouth to keep from doing the same. They sure were laughing at her, thinking _"Look, it's the wine ditz!"_

Lillian motioned to Seventeen, if he hadn't got rid of that skank she would have slit his throat. When the pair came out of the bar, Lillian greeted them with a nervous smile, -Seventeen, you idiot, where's YOUR GIRLFRIEND?-

Brent tried, -Er, Lillian, this is-

-The wine ditz! I mean, that wine chick.-

The _wine chick_ looked at Lillian with compassion, like one looks at a stubborn child, Seventeen clucked: both had already figured out what Lillian was thinking.

-Carly's cuddling herlittle girl, in the company of _her _husband.-

Lillian looked still perplexed, as he nodded to the girl.

-She's my twin sister, Eighteen.-

Did he have a _twin_ sister? And why hadn't he ever told her?

_"Wow...two out of two, congratulations to Mum."_

Lillian remembered that he had told her indeed, en passant, when he had confessed to her he was a cyborg, -Ahhh right, your sister.-

Brent and Eighteen had already met and exchanged a brief nod of understanding. Eighteen did the same with Lillian.

Carly reappeared shortly after holding a baby girl as blonde as Seventeen's sister; the man in the duffle coat was holding her by the elbow.

-It's unbelievable, I didn't know we'd meet you here,- she smiled at him. Carly took her place back at Seventeen's side; the new uncle bent down immediately to greet his young niece, whose prehensile hand instantly grabbed a long lock of black hair.

-Ah, you're here too! Are you all right?- Krillin was surprised to see the girl who had fallen down in the company of her in-laws.

All introductions were made, and Krillin joyfully explained that this was the best coincidence that could happen.

Lilllian felt out of place, while Brent had immediately connected with Krillin. Eighteen noticed the unconsciously troubled look with which Lillian couldn't help but stare at both her and Marron, -You _know_, don't you?-

Lillian just nodded discreetly; she hadn't meant to stare, but Eighteen was surely the first _cyborg_ she'd ever _known_ who had given birth.

After all, if she was like Sev there was nothing to be surprised about; but with that word, _cyborg_, always bothering her, Lillian had ended up feeling surprised anyway. Inevitably her mind had raced to that place she didn't have to talk about, _"Yikes. I really got away with no protection, that time."_

While everyone was talking, walking toward the banks of the Dorée waiting for the fireworks, Eighteen walked with Seventeen pointing to the girl who had stained her pants, -The former _top ranger_; you shagged her.-

-Mm, question or statement?- he tried to elude her.

-Statement, absolutely. Otherwise how would she_ know_?-

/

The group of six plus Marron had moved near the Dorée and the large stage from which music still played, on which the giant screen with the countdown stood.

By now the New Year was in the air, the excitement grew more and more. It was going to be a good year for everyone, even if no one knew what to expect. Seventeen held Carly close to him as the air began to fill with whistles and chants. He was glad that they had once again made up, it was magical to watch time go by and hold her close. But a part of the twins kept them from completely relaxing, thinking that while North City was having a good time, those androids were always lurking around the world. Eighteen especially felt this threat stronger than ever; she had killed one just before getting there.

The collective clamour grew even more intense as the entire city began to echo with the countdown.

Lillian was feeling tired, scared after seeing Seventeen with Eighteen before she knew her name and identity.

She wanted to sit down for a moment and regain some strength, but a big red arm held her up around her waist, -So Lillian, good resolutions for the coming year?-

-Teaching you to keep your hands in their place.-

Brent smiled at her and squeezed her waist with his other arm as well. They both looked up.

5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 .. !

A multitude of colourful explosions filled the sky. Colours, joy, music, noise, life.

-Happy New Year!- Carly screamed as Seventeen hoisted her over his shoulder and she pointed to the coloured lapilli that seemed to touch distant Great Eden.

Krillin, one hand on sleeping Marron and the other on Eighteen's neck, started the year with a sweet kiss; Eighteen leaned over him and kissed him passionately, far away from the crowd around them. Soon Seventeen and Carly also went away to kiss undisturbed near the guard rail that stubbornly prevented the revellers from falling into the Dorée.

Lillian was still leaning against Brent, nose up, enraptured by the colors. A tear of joy showed up in the corner of her eye, and when Brent's beard stung her neck as he kissed it, Lillian didn't turn away.

Each member of that little group was starting the year with someone they loved; who knew what the future would hold for them?

The music rang and rang as Lillian stroked the Viking's face and, hugging his chest, joyfully gave him the kiss he'd been waiting for since the moment he'd first laid eyes on her.

Carly saw them and smiled without interrupting, perhaps happier for her than for him.

She saw Lazuli come to meet her and take her aside.

-You know that Krillin and I will have a renewal of our vows in July, right? If you want …-

She handed her a sealed letter; Carly opened it hastily and saw it was a request. An invitation to be a bridesmaid for Lazuli.

-Wow...I don't know what to say.-

-Say yes,- Eighteen gave her a shy smile and left her alone.

Carly was no longer _the slutty fairy_, she was now part of the family; she was not yet married to Seventeen, but it was as if she were his wife. Carly had known both of them before they were cyborgs, she had been in their _yesterday_ and would be in their _tomorrow_.

Carly deserved it.

/

Lillian was still kissing Brent when a flash thought stopped her, -So, Elliott?-

Brent took her back, hugging her tightly and laughing, -While we're here he'll still be stuck on a plane. Fat, short-sighted, and luckless.-

/

Elliott watched the fireworks lying on the rowboat, covered with a blanket. It felt so different, stargazing from that corner of the world, he wondered if his friends at home were looking at the same sky.

In the Sienna Bay the fireworks were launched from boats like his, the light rose to the sky directly from the sea instead of from land. But the other boats, whose passengers had perhaps had the same idea as he, were almost invisible in the dark. The paleontologist benefited from absolute peace, the fireworks looked like lights in the distance, and the noise was small bursts, like that of kernels popping in the pan …

-What if we rowed back and grabbed a bite?-

Defiance emerged to his side and rested her cheek on his chest.

-And happy New Year to you too. Let's stay here a little longer…-

New Year's Eve was cold on her naked torso, dotted with goosebumps; Elliott covered her with the blanket and hugged her to keep her warm.

-Unless I'm bothering you.-

Elliott wasn't sure he believed his ears, -Are you kidding? I'm grateful, indeed.-

-Grateful ... as if I had done you a favor. You silly.-

Elliott watched Defiance's eyes widen, her lips purse slightly. No no no, she didn't have to be offended! He kissed her forehead. His ears weren't the only part of himself he couldn't believe.

Elliott did not believe any part of his poor body, skin to skin with the magnificent Defiance De Villiers's.

-It's just that ... It's unreal.-

Defiance dressed quickly, before other rowboat passengers saw her stark naked, -Well, we're here, together. See?- She squeezed his hand, leaning on

him.

-Eh ... I'm ugly.-

-Mmm mmm,- she rolled her finger through his fizzy curls.

-I'm poor.-

-Mmm mmm.-

-In short, what is a Valkyrie like you doing with a tubby boy like me?-

Defiance laughed at the word.

_Tubby boy_ was not even a term that was used in the North, no, it was a polite way Elliott called himself.

The Valkyrie affectionately kissed his chubby cheek and invited him to lean his head against her neckline.

-Oh, come here, my _tubby boy_.-

/

Thoughts of the author:

I had a lot of fun writing these last two playful chapters. Great things await our protagonists in this new year (especially one of them) between ups and downs, hold on tight!


	32. Sixteen, Eighteen and Hacchan

Krillin was clear: #8 was a peaceful guy who hated confrontation.

But it was time to meet him, Sixteen and Eighteen had taken on the task.

Krillin, who had first thought of going to Jingle Village, had preferred to stay and take care of Marron: Eighteen got that.

And Eighteen herself wanted to achieve that goal, to gain the trust of a being who had none in its creator, and consequently also in other creations.

The android would only have garrisoned the meeting, observing the cyborg girl from afar.

The two of them had to be as cautious, as sensitive as possible if they wanted to get close to #8.

Eighteen agreed with Sixteen that his menacing appearance, so different from his demeanour, made another kind of impression.

Again, it was a situation where life did not require physical strength but fortitude. Eighteen pondered this truth as she sat at the table in the only café in Jingle Village.

From Dende's description, Eighteen was to expect an imposing-looking humanoid with scars on his forehead. Some kind of Frankenstein monster.

Eighteen undid the scroll and read on: #8 "Hacchan" (as he called himself; it was Son Goku as a child who suggested that nickname, Krillin had remembered with nostalgia) went down to that café every morning to help tidy up supplies. She wondered if he ever stopped for a hot drink in that perpetually snowy place. If he could do it. He wondered if he really was like her and Seventeen.

#8 was the first of the four infinite energy models, Eighteen was the last.

He was through with delivering a load of closed boxes to the café, Eighteen watched him go.

She followed him, keeping her distance, knowing that he had noticed her. She followed him to a circular-shaped house, similar to that of Son Goku.

Eighteen didn't feel like going to fish him out in there, -# 8.-

He didn't even turn to look at her, he preferred to focus on the front door.

-Hacchan.-

Hearing himself called by that name, Eight turned slowly; Eighteen thought she saw a spark of kindness in his eyes.

For a moment Eight and that unknown girl stood sizing each other up. He looked really impressive, very tall and outstanding with that square skull and the scars, the absence of eyebrows. Then the front door slammed open and that moment of calm was lost.

Eighteen saw a woman appear, she might have been ten years older than her. Her straight, long, ginger hair reminded her of Carly's.

-Stand back,- the woman in the bonnet drew a long pistol and held it firmly.

Could she also shoot like Carly?

Feeling the tension build up # 8 stirred, hoping that the gunwoman would calm down, -Suno…-

_Suno_ was troubled by the apparent calm of the other female a few steps away from her; no one had looked for Hacchan since he had settled down in Jingle Village. Nobody could care about him...apart from the Red Ribbon itself. What if that woman was sent by Doctor Gero, what if she was _one of them_?

-Hacchan has strength you can't even imagine, but he's too kind, and people sometimes take advantage of him. Doctor Gero, his creator, wanted to throw him away for this; General White wanted to make him his slave!-

Gero had taken more than advantage of Eighteen. She was surprised to hear the name _Doctor Gero_ uttered by a regular human.

Earth was a violent and dangerous place, Suno had had to learn to protect herself. She intended to use the gun if that female didn't disappear. -Hacchan is too good and noble for y'all. Too bad it's not my case.-

The human fired and the bullet ricocheted off the cyborg's shoulder.

Understanding the situation, Hacchan leaned forward to protect Suno and delivered a powerful punch that didn't even graze the blonde-haired android who had come to visit him; she had moved to the doorstep, so quickly that Suno could now watch her closely: she looked _real_.

She might have been _too pretty to be true_, if nothing, but she was alive and real indeed.

She couldn't be a Red Ribbon android, she had to be a _cyborg_.

Hacchan immediately sensed her hybrid nature and defended his home, -Leave me alone, you people. I have my life here at the village ... they accept me here.-

Eighteen understood the will to defend that feeling of acceptance and of being loved even if different, too different from anyone else; she had been extremely lucky.

She took a step toward him, -And it's to protect the life you cherish that you must listen to me.-

The human Suno had already given up on any approach to that woman, both attack and defence.

-I know what it's like; I came a long time after you, I'm # 18.-

Hacchan looked at her, she had sparked his interest,

_"Oh my, there's a #18; that's what they look like, so long after me."_

_/_

Hacchan lived with Suno, they took care of each other like brother and sister. She too had met Son Goku and had been the one who (together with the saiyan) had had the bomb removed from Hacchan; a bit like Krillin had done for the twins, only without Shenron.

Suno was no stranger to the concept of cyborg and finding herself in front of one was the first thing she had thought when seeing #18, even before being struck by her beauty; now that her fear had diminished Suno couldn't help but look at her pale, very cold eyes, and symmetrical features, -Have all the slain androids returned? And where are they?-

-Eighteen and I are chasing them. We want to involve # 8.-

Suno was still on guard, sitting opposite Sixteen at the table. Hacchan had also noticed him outside his house, and having ascertained that he had come in peace just like #18, he had invited him to come in.

The Capsule Corp. symbol covered that of the Red Ribbon, Hacchan considered it a good sign.

-Why should he be involved?- Suno put on the table a pot of hot broth and a large sliced loaf. She ladled the broth into cups, one for herself and one for Hacchan.

-Hacchan is a cyborg, but fluids like this watery soup are good for him; he needs to hydrate to keep his organic side alive; I guess it's the same for you,- the woman declared, placing the third cup in front of her cyborg host.

-Kami himself has commissioned me to eliminate them. You know my husband Krillin, Hacchan.-

Hacchan and Suno knew Krillin well; had he married a Red Ribbon cyborg, for real?

Eighteen drank her broth discreetly; her stomach rumbled, demanding real nutritious food.

Her appetite was crazy, even more so than when she was pregnant: producing milk non-stop required consistent food intake from her.

Since before Marron's birth, at the Kame House they had assumed that Krillin's wife also had a saiyan percentage, since she could virtually eat the equivalent of her weight, daily.

Yet she, the proud Eighteen, was still ashamed to show herself to the others while she ate; since her comfortable post-conversion diet would still be impracticable for months she had become accustomed to have her meals in nibbles, like a bird. If someone addressed her with words or looks they never surprised her with a full mouth; it embarrassed her that they watched her chew or get her mouth dirty with sauce, it seemed so trivial and so not in keeping with the glacial impression one must have of her!

Eighteen restrained herself as long as she could, remaining impassive in front of that simple but tantalising table, until she had cramps.

_"Who cares."_

In the end, eating was nothing special; everybody did it, literally _everybody_, except for Sixteen.

And this Hacchan.

And the others on her blacklist.

Suno and Hacchan watched with surprise #18 bite two slices of bread and swallow them almost whole; they had never seen a Red Ribbon creation feed on anything.

-Ooh, someone's a bit peckish...Our fresh air makes everybody hungry.-

Suno had grown up with that dogma and thought the Northern climate was good for health.

Sixteen intervened with an explanation and Hacchan learnt that #18 was practically a superhuman, an enhanced Earthling. Aside from her infinite energy reactor, not so different from his own, she was nothing more than restructured organic matter.

Eighteen had already embarrassed herself enough; gorging had given her hiccups, she had attracted subdued giggles from Hacchan and Suno.

Perhaps it was best to continue Sixteen's explanation, -Gero modified me this way to be a sort of completion for Cell. And Sixteen,- the cyborg girl hinted at the android -he's indirectly responsible for Cell's defeat.-

Every time Eighteen thought of Cell she felt breaking inside. It was something she could forget in everyday life, because hardly anyone mentioned him, but when it came back to her it was a terrible assault, something that troubled her deeply. She had escaped Cell by a miracle.

It was going to be trauma forever and the only thought that gave strength was that the monster would never return.

Everyone knew Cell, but hardly anyone imagined that he and the cyborgs were related.

Hacchan didn't need much explanation, -Yeah, Son Gohan defeated him, but I didn't know it was thanks to you!-

The oldest cyborg understood definitively that Sixteen and Eighteen were not a threat.

But Suno...

-How can we trust you? #16 is an android through and through and # 18...I can't see you as a real human. Even if you are like Hacchan.-

Hacchan himself, created from a corpse, knew that this next-generation cyborg was still different; the mechanical percentage in her was much lower and she had always been a living girl.

Eighteen did not know how to explain, words would never be enough.

She remembered about some proof of her humanity that would never go away.

-You won't be able to see. But # 8 will,-

Eighteen glanced at Hacchan and lifted her shirt, showing the flat surface of her stomach.

-You're flat, so what?- Suno retorted.

But Hacchan saw what those who didn't have enhanced eyes could not see; the skin of #18's belly was streaked, as if worn out, its weave not uniform.

-My skin stretched not long ago, when I was expecting my baby girl.-

Suno winced, that cyborg had given birth?

-I conceived and gave birth to a daughter, she is almost six months old now. You can see the marks for yourself.-

Hacchan thought for a moment how much he would have liked to meet that little girl, daughter of a creation of the Red Ribbon and of warrior Krillin.

#18 had always been a living organism before, during and after the conversion in cyborg: her heart had never stopped under the knife of Gero.

It was amazing.

#18 had given life, she could feed, she had taken off her coat because she had felt hot, she had left her saliva on the rim of the cup.

-Are you the only one of _us_ like that? The only one of your kind?-

-No.-

/

Eighteen and Sixteen could be satisfied, #8 seemed to be on their side. It would have been stupid not to be, since the new threat concerned him too.

-If there is a copy of Doctor Gero, I hope no one else takes him...This time it's my turn,- Eighteen snarled, clearly audible to Sixteen despite being in flight at high speed muffled every sound. Sixteen sensed that Eighteen had wanted to kill Gero for a long time, even if for one reason or another she hadn't gone through with it.

To be precise, Eighteen had wanted to kill him with her own hands since the time when, three years earlier, she had realised that the old man had touched her with tampons every month, in the menstrual period.

-The encounter with #8 must be reported to Seventeen. He knows nothing about it.-

The android was right, in his impassiveness he always understood everything; Eighteen knew how her brother hated falling from the sky, it was perhaps the thing he hated most of all. When she and Krillin had not informed him of their wedding he had felt excluded from the life of his twin sister; when he felt trifled with he could become dangerous.

-Yes, Sixteen, we have to tell him. I'll see him and our mother as soon as we find a date.-

Kate had warned the twins of her intentions, to invite them over to her house to celebrate their twenty-third birthday. It was since meeting Ronan that Eighteen hadn't met with Seventeen at home. She

would find a moment to talk to him about _Hacchan_.

/

But before Eighteen even turned twenty-three, she had something urgent to do. She had chosen a Central City boutique on purpose so that her maid of honour could be there.

Waiting for Sara, sitting indoors in the shopping centre, Eighteen listened absently to Bulma.

-I don't understand what Yamcha is doing here. Are you Carly's poor replacement?-

-Who is that?-

-Eighteen's third bridesmaid, come on!-

Bulma rubbed her forehead, already tired of keeping up with him.

Yamcha didn't know this bridesmaid, -I just wanted to come along, I'm curious…-

-He kept being annoying,- the bride to be commented, looking at the time on her phone.

-These are women's things, you blockhead!...But in the end it is the bride's decision.-

Chi-Chi, Son Goku's widow, thought that times had really changed: when it was her turn to choose her wedding dress she hadn't brought a crowd with her.

Chi-Chi would have been a simple guest to the ceremony but at Krillin's suggestion, Eighteen had wanted to invite her to the dress hunt. Since Goku had died she had been quite alone, caught between the house and another son. Goten was a couple of years old now, that girls' day out would do her good.

Eighteen found it hard to look into her eyes: even if Chi-Chi had not shown herself hostile to her, Eighteen knew that Gero had planned for her to destroy that woman's family. The awareness had a bitter aftertaste, even now.

She had also stolen her clothes...

Yamcha had come to the Star of the Centre flying, following the bride to be; Bulma and Chi-Chi by a Capsule Corp. aircraft; Sara was yet to arrive, she would come during her break; Carly hadn't made it, but she would have participated in the try-ons via video call.

Sara arrived out of breath at the boutique, on the third level of the shopping centre; the group was already seated in an elegant boudoir, Lazuli must have been in the dressing room.

Sara caught a piece of the conversation of bridesmaid Bulma, the one with the natural blue hair.

-...That's right, Chi-Chi, the lingerie isn't the most important part; that's to be saved for the bedroom.-

Sara knew it, it was useless to spend the day picking a lace thong from one's crack, or even getting vaginosis from uncomfortable underwear

-They're always too drunk to appreciate…-

-Or too stupid,- sighed the attractive black-haired lady, _Chi-Chi_. -On our wedding night, when I appeared to him in black lingerie, he said 'why did you dress up as a witch?'-

Yamcha burst out laughing, Goku was still Goku. If he thought marriage was food, then…

Bulma went online in the bridesmaids' group chat and called Carly.

Eighteen soon came out in a dressing gown and slippers with the boutique's logo, going to meet the woman who would assist her in her choice.

-It'll be a July beach wedding. I don't want bulky things, but it must be a proper dress.-

The clerk showed her some pieces, -Oh, on the beach, very trendy. Peplum styles will do, like this one. I see you rocking this Aphrodite-like style.-

-Yes, a neckline like this suits you, you have nice strong shoulders,- Chichi looked at her.

_"I think she needs something _royal _; this will do,"_ Carly commented too, with nods from Bulma and Yamcha.

Eighteen was modestly of the same opinion; she touched enthusiastically the billowing fabric of that dress, she couldn't wait to try it on.

The clerk helped her in the mirror-less dressing room.

-Oh, my. This dress was made for you...if you want, close your eyes and I'll take you outside.-

Eighteen wanted to give herself that surprise. Avoiding holding hands, as she oriented herself perfectly even with her eyes closed, she appeared to the amazed group.

-Oh, Lazuli! What an angel.-

-You look charming.-

-Statuary. Beautiful.-

-Lucky bastard …-

-This is off the rack, but you wouldn't even need to have it altered by the tailor,- concluded the clerk.

Eighteen wasn't sure, but she finally opened her eyes.

It felt special to see herself in a wedding dress, something unique, a new feeling that made her heart jump and tears rise. It was her, just as beautiful as she had never seen herself. A dress worthy of another change in her life, a life she would never have had it not for three important people: she was thankful that Krillin, Kate and Seventeen weren't there. She wanted to leave them breathless, she wanted them to feel that same wonder on the day of the ceremony.

Eighteen gazed flirtatiously; the plunging neckline did justice to her breasts, rounded from motherhood, the straps that tied directly on the collarbones and the pleated skirt made her look like an ancient sculpture.

Looking closer, Eighteen noticed that the fabric of the dress and the way it fell very closely resembled her blue bridesmaid dress.

The memory of herself in the blue dress was dangerously linked to that of the great haemorrhage, of the life of her little Marron hanging by a thread...

Thinking of her baby girl, Eighteen felt her chest swell; luckily she hadn't taken off her bra and nursing pads.

Eighteen had to give up that dress, as much as she loved it, as much as _she loved herself in it_.

-Lazuli...for all of us it's absolutely yes,- Sara said, moved, on behalf of all.

Everyone could see that it had been love at first sight with the first dress she had tried on. Normally the clerk lady would have advised her to evaluate others as well, but the tears of a future bride were always _the clue: _they did not shudder before every beautiful dress, but only before _the one_.

Eighteen didn't let anyone read on her face a reason that perhaps only Sara would understand; she walked on, dress still on, toward the clothes hanger.

No one expected her to decline that grand peplum.

-What is this?- The cyborg girl took an embroidered top and a wide skirt, princely and voluminous, pinned to the same hanger.

-Ah, it's a two-piece ensemble. You can mix and match, very trendy.-

The idea was interesting: Eighteen wanted to try the skirt with another top, the _boho_ style was not for her.

The lady brought her many different tops, chirping praises, -Like the peplum, you could walk out of here with sample sizes, they fit you like gloves. And with your height you can afford whatever style you want.-

Eighteen was still troubled by the overlap of that painful memory. She thought about it for a moment, not knowing exactly what in that sentence had bothered her. Perhaps it was the fact that another woman had judged her body or that she too, as a girl (albeit in a contained way), had fallen into the social trap of never feeling _thin _enough, adequate enough.

She was determined to find an answer that was satisfactory but also suitable for keeping the person who was to sell her the dress.

Eighteen cut the lady off in one breath, -If you really understood how design, or even just clothes in general work you'd know that no, no body or height can afford everything. I just have the body that has been fashionable for decades now, I am therefore favored by fashion houses who insist on serving up _all_ cuts and lengths made for _this_,- she ran his hand along her body, -when in reality the average woman is quite different from me.-

She closed that sentence, said at high speed and in an annoyed tone on purpose to confuse her interlocutor, with a look that did not admit replies.

The clerk limited herself to a polite smile, pretending nothing happened.

Bulma saw Carly smile from her screen.

_"That's my Lazuli,"_ the maid of honour thought proudly.

Eighteen also looked spectacular in that two-piece ensemble, even in the pantsuit that she tried on just out of curiosity. But no other dress had given her a spark: they were just beautiful clothes on a beautiful woman.

When the call with Carly ended, Yamcha whispered a confidence to the women, -That bridesmaid, _Carla_, is pretty…-

-Yamcha! No!- Bulma warned him.

-Forget it!- Sara echoed, almost in unison. Sara remembered her, she had been Lapis's girlfriend for an eternity.

-She's her brother's girl,- even Chi-Chi proclaimed, pointing to Eighteen; she had only glimpsed #17 once, at the Kame House, but she remembered his unfriendly air.

-If you want to keep your head on your shoulders…-

Yamcha remembered that Eighteen had a brother, as cyborg as she was: he had also seen him, despotic stance and blue upturned eyes.

Perhaps it would have been better for him to keep remembering that despotic stance, and super reinforced body; especially in the presence of that yummy bridesmaid, all boobs and smiles.

/

Long distance relationships could mean satisfaction and ardor, but also heartache. In order to be with Defiance Elliott had accepted that condition with his eyes closed, but how heavy it was now to know that, for example, they could not be together on her birthday.

He couldn't travel to the South and Defiance, for her part, was caught in her job.

They agreed that on January 30th they would call in the afternoon.

Waiting for 4.30 pm sharp sitting at the bar,

Elliott tried to shy away when he saw Joel and Bronwyn come in.

Joel also hailed from Verny and Elliott had always been a classmate of his. When he had found out that Joel too worked in the _RNP_, Elliott was grateful that it wasn't as a paleontologist: it would be excruciating to cross paths with him often.

He, along with other factors, had marked the beginning of his insecurity: from primary school on it was no exception that Joel and other tough guys were waiting for him outside school to have fun at his expenses. They called him "Tub of lard", "Fatso", "Porker" and other derogatory nicknames.

Without permission, Joel sat down at Elliott's table and eyed his snack.

-Hey Elliott, what are you having here? Third lunch or pre-first dinner?-

-Bad Wi-Fi. I came here to make a call. And you?-

Joel glanced at his watch, -At 5 pm I have a meeting with all my colleagues; for the biennial competition, you know. Who do you have to call?-

Maybe that would be his chance ...

-My girlfriend.-

-Wtf?- Bronwyn, who had been waiting for Joel by the door, only came over to taunt Elliott. -And where did _you_ get a girl? Assuming she's living and human…-

Elliott let that slip, -I met her at the end of the year. When I went to Monster Island.-

-Look, dumpsters you make out with when drunk on New Year's Eve don't count,- Joel added.

Elliott had no photos with Defiance and she had no social media accounts, but absence may be the best presence and being the daughter of famous people, when Elliott typed _Defiance De Villiers,_ Bronwyn and Elliott saw the search engine suggest results:

Defiance De Villiers _mir_

_height_

_birthday_

_monster island_

_single_

_royal navy _

_parents_

Her photos were all over the Internet.

-Yikes! Look here, Bronwyn. What a hottie,- Joel gasped.

-No way this is your girlfriend!- Bronwyn grunted.

-And not only is she hot, she's also filthy rich,- Joel showed his cell phone to the botanist. -What did Porker here do to fuck her? She's the daughter of Charles De Villiers.-

Unlike the boys, Bronwyn didn't have the faintest idea of who that _Charles_ was.

_"You know you're famous when you have an infobox on the internet ..." _

Reading that box with a haughty grimace, Bronwyn realised that she knew very well who the mother of this Defiance was, -Everyone stop..._Rikki Lang_?-

Bronwyn clicked on the hyperlink, going to Mrs. De Villiers's Wikipedia page. She approached Elliott with narrow eyes, -I mean, are _you_ banging Rikki Lang's daughter?-

-Defiance and I are_ together_ but okay…-

-Whose daughter?- This time it was Joel who didn't know who Bronwyn was talking about.

-A model. This is her when she was young,- Bronwyn searched for pictures and Joel was delighted to see colour and black&white portraits of a beautiful girl with fussy cheekbones and large dark eyes.

Joel was almost dazed, watching videos of the same girl parading on catwalks.

-She was big in the '80s and' 90s, now a little less, she retired and must be in her fifties.-

Elliott was not aware of the Major's wife. He read the introduction of her Wikipedia page:

_Rikki De Villiers, nee Erica Alix Lang is a South City-based landowner, socialite, environmentalist, philanthropist and former model. She belongs to the __Lang_ _and __De Villiers__ families by birth and by marriage._

All those foreign house names confused Elliott.

_"Dunno, in the end how many names and surnames does this blessed lady have?" _

Looking at the photo on the page, he didn't know why something about her face looked familiar to him; she didn't look much like her daughter, although the two women had in common being 10s.

Bronwyn thought that snotty Southerner would dump _Fatso _as soon as someone handsome and rich came around.

But Joel, responding to who knows what ancestral brotherly stimulus, couldn't help but be proud of Elliott: the guy he had always thought hopeless had picked up a beauty queen, loaded, with a big name to top it off.

-Respect, bro...oh, I have to go.-

He snapped his fingers and Bronwyn immediately followed him out of the bar.

After seeing this, Elliott felt relieved for his friend, _"Lillian, thank goodness; you deserve better. "_

And that was how Elliott finally got rid of his bully, the guy who had mocked and shamed him forever.

Joel never scoffed at him again.

/

John had gathered all his park rangers in a hall. He looked _at his people_, from the youngest to his peers. Some were talking to each other, laughing, others were on their cell phones.

Especially looking at those who had shared with him more than forty years of service, John wondered why during all that time they had never been _top ranger_, or even _chief ranger_ material.

John still planned to make his successor the second youngest, his priceless Lillian.

Before Lillian, Fabien had been appointed at top ranger; Fabien had held that position for six years before Lillian had entered the scene.

Their profession was still one that required experience, Fabien had had to turn forty to become top notch.

Yet the last two top rangers, little more than kids, had shown John that more than years of service, it counted with how much brains (and even elbow grease) one did the job: either it was two exceptions _in a row_, or he he was too old and no longer understood how the world worked.

-Ok rangers, as you know our biennial competition_, the challenge of the five swamps_, is happening this year. Now, the newest among us know nothing about it, but it is simply a training. The _swamps_ are similar-looking grounds in which we must move as confident as frogs or herons. It's just grass and water and trees, yet they change every time, because they're cursed.-

John heard soft laughter rise from the ranks; of course, it was not known if the marshes were really cursed, it was just a rumor.

Obviously they wouldn't all take on the challenge at the same time, or there would be no more rangers to...range the RNP.

-I will divide you into six groups, the first will start on February 9th. For a week, you will have to give your best in a place unfamiliar, especially for new ones. Now I want to invite the last top ranger to have performed the test to talk about it. Come here Lillian.-

-I aced it,- she whispered to Brent before standing up and joining John.

-The _five swamps_ are a test of life in the great outdoors, not a competition,- the former top ranger put a special emphasis on the last three words.

-Yeh, everything is a competition for her,- Joel muttered.

-There are no scores and ratings and no, that's not how the top ranger is chosen,- Lillian carried on, -it's like a personal evaluation: each of us will understand what our gaps are. It's not boy scout stuff, it's not easy and I'm the first to say it: it was designed to put you to the test. You will sleep rough, if you don't know how to make a fire you will have to eat your food raw. But in the end nobody ever died in the swamps, here we have a certain standard of efficiency.-

Brent should have felt excited, that was closer to how people lived in the time of the Vikings, without all the comforts, but the prospect of facing days and days in the middle of nowhere frightened him.

Lillian had measured herself with that trial shortly after she was hired; she still remembered the sense of anxiety she had felt in that uninhabited micro-region where it was so easy to get lost, between lagoons and mists.

John joined the conversation again, -And in these special circumstances, you will all be entitled to a weapon.-

The room came alive with joyful exclamations.

-Huh, look at what one has to do for a shotgun. The fuckin' boy scout.-

Joel pretended not to hear Seventeen, seated between him and Brent.

He'd already had a fight with the new top ranger, who had literally hung him from a pine tree. Joel had hung on that branch for hours, until he was able to wiggle free from his jacket and get out. He understood that picking a fight with Seventeen was inconvenient and dangerous, but sometimes he just couldn't resist, -Shut up and suck it, bropunzel.-

Joel just had time to finish his joke; with a slam, his forehead painfully met the table at which he was sitting.

He didn't immediately understand what had happened, but he cursed aloud holding his bruised head; the whole room stared at him.

Brent had got a little startled when he had seen Seventeen simply touch Joel's back and give him a glorious blow. However, he knew that Joel was the one always looking for trouble, -Forget him Sev, it's not worth it.-

-What's going on? How come one can't get to make a speech without it ending up in a fight?-

Lillian frowned, looked Seventeen straight in the face; he shrugged.

Many of those present shook their heads. Some looked up at the foreign boy, the youngest ranger in the whole North; many others, given his penchant for making them obsolete, either didn't stand him or feared him.

Joel kept mumbling, dabbing his bloody forehead, -You got serious behavioural problems, psycho.-

Seventeen replied with a devilish half-smile, raising his black eyebrows, -Shush. Shut up.-

He moved Joel with a hand, walking towards the hall exit.

John was forced to end the meeting. He caught his top ranger outside before he slipped away.

-Seventeen, woe to you. My tolerance has a limit.-

With him, John often felt like a parent yelling at a rebellious teenager. -And the hell with the shotgun. Forget about it, with your skills I'm sure you won't suffer. Let's see if you stop believing you can do whatever you please here.-

Seventeen was stunned, contrary to his expectations: he didn't care about John's sermons or about having reminded Joel who the boss was, but firearms, heck!

He had also had a similar argument with Leni, a year before. He knew he didn't need weapons, but they were fun games.

And everyone in there was working hard to deny him a weapon.


	33. A Year later

From inside the helicopter Lillian watched the expanse of the marshes below, and also her battered ex sitting across from her.

-Nice staples in the face, Joel. You had a fall?-

-Keep playing dumb…-

-You begged for it.-

Joel didn't understand why Lillian was defending the guy who had ousted her: sure, she was fucking him.

When they announced Group 1, Lillian had grunted in frustration.

They were mostly colleagues with whom she never interacted, ladies and gentlemen twice her age; but there was Albane from high school, who had been hired at the RNP at the same time as her; Joel was there too.

The only good thing was that she would get rid of the thought of the challenge and soon resume her normal routine.

-Yes, all this is beautiful, but how are we going to do it when _nature calls_?-

Lillian and Albane looked at Joel condescendingly, -As if you didn't know that sanitary measures have been taken.-

Sure, hanging out in the marshes to earn the right to sit in plastic cubicles wasn't exciting, but it was better than nothing.

Lillian and the others would spend the week of February 9th trying to get out of that huge pool of rotten water, now graciously screened by winter.

Like two years before, the helicopter landed on an islet in the middle of that territory, leaving a footprint in the ever-fresh snow.

-Ok troopers. You have the ocean to the north side, the North City district to the west, the RNP to the east and the south. Good luck and watch the eagles.-

Once John's copter whirred away, the rangers could decide to group up or split. There were no rules, it was enough that they knew how to get out of there.

Everyone carried a shotgun and a backpack loaded with essentials: first aid kit, tent and sleeping bag, a saucepan, lighters, knives, ropes, water bottles, instant noodles. All provided by John, so that no one started at disadvantage.

The _five swamps_ were totally uninhabited, used for years by the governor as an area for the rewilding of the North; there was no network, compasses and maps and walkie-talkies would be used. Like in the olden days.

/

After learning that Joel had needed five stitches for the blow to the head, John decided that scolding Seventeen wouldn't be enough.

He had summoned other executives and directors on purpose to discuss him.

-You must shove the pecking order in his face, strike the iron until it bends. Because he knows we can't let him go.-

Leni had figured out Seventeen's character since his recruitment. Only now did John realise that he had turned a blind eye to him too many times.

-We're too soft here, Dubochet!- began the director of public relations, -just feed him to Klintsov-Samuels; see how she keeps him in line.-

It had obviously been said as a joke, the SANP better not know anything; they just needed not that bird of prey of a Malina to set her sights also on the current top ranger.

However, if there was one thing the MIR excelled at it was discipline.

They were military.

And that kind of discipline was what John needed. He had always treated his rangers like one big family, an approach _fair _but not without flaws. The benefits that Seventeen brought far exceeded the trouble of his bratty attitude, yet that was no excuse for him to enjoy impunity.

John was certain that the challenge of the five swamps would be a delight for him: excellent, he would be among the last to undertake it.

/

On the morning of March 8th, the twins strolled through their leafy suburb in Central City.

Eighteen, Krillin and Marron would stop at Kate's for a few days: their birthday party would soon happen and Krillin was fighting in that area.

He had started enrolling in tournaments again and his wife and daughter were following him.

Eighteen hadn't told anyone at the Kame House that February 13th was her birthday: with the psycho-physical pressure she felt subjected to, between the androids and Marron, she lacked the will to keep up with strangers.

Seventeen and Carly had postponed the party with their friends as Lillian, and Brent later, would be busy with that swamp shit. If John intended to punish him, he might as well; Seventeen was still entitled to his days off.

He had decided to use a few to please his mother and let her organize that blessed birthday party.

He had to get away from his boss for a few days.

Like his sister, he too had celebrated with a romantic dinner; Carly had simply given him a note.

_We'll get your present on the 8th, in Central City._

It was past their birth date, but it was the only day on which all three (mother and children) had managed to agree.

-So mum is still with Frogman?- Seventeen inquired, eyeing his sister.

-They never broke up!-

On the contrary: Ronan had accepted Kate's idea of living together.

The male twin was quivering with curiosity, Carly didn't give him any clue about that phantom gift. She just told him it was something special to celebrate their reunion, a year later.

He was looking forward to Carly getting on the plane and landing in Central City Highwick. Seventeen was looking forward to seeing his girlfriend again, regardless of the surprise; between crazy studying and new avalanche warnings they hadn't seen much of each other in the last ten days.

Carly was probably still sitting in her classroom at university now, having the penultimate test of her entire career as a student.

Eighteen was also shaking: that conversation with Hacchan had prodded the memories of Doctor Gero. The hatred she felt for him, the most important reason she wanted to kill him.

-Alright, if a _Gero 2.0 _shows up I'll let you take him out.-

Eighteen felt annoyed by Seventeen's listless tone; it was as if he found her drive comic.

They were sitting in a small garden not far from Kate's house. Eighteen had found time for Seventeen before he left for Highwick; she really wanted to talk to him about Gero.

She waited for some passers-by to leave them alone again, -_Why_, right? Because the whole time he operated on us, he _touched_ me, Seventeen. He placed tampons with his own hands.-

The girl shivered at her own words, at the mere awareness.

He wasn't even listening to her, -What about me? Did he put anything on me?-

Eighteen hadn't thought of her brother as a fool lately, but at that moment it was happening again_, _-I can put a tampon in you; in your mouth.-

At least he would have stopped babbling.

-No seriously, did he let me pee myself?- Seventeen stared at her with a resentful look. Other people in the park turned to look at them.

-...he must have placed a catheter.-

Seventeen gave her a shocked look, -Then it means he touched my...shit, that's disgusting.-

Did he just realise? Eighteen was still there wondering why Gero hadn't given her a hysterectomy: she was meant to be just a weapon. Of course, even in the 21th century men knew little or nothing about periods; if _she_ had been a mad scientist, she would have removed that _flaw_ in her creation.

But she was glad that Gero didn't.

-Instead he left me everything. He left me Marron…-

-He left me my balls.-

Just to prove the veracity of his words, Seventeen gave himself an indiscreet scratch. -And maybe they work too.-

Eighteen wanted the ground to swallow her. They were still around other people, other passers-by had turned to look at them. Did she really share DNA with him?

-How vulgar! This is what happens, being around yokels.-

-Do my friends look like yokels to you?-

In fact, the poor Northerners had nothing to do with it, her brother just had horrid manners.

-You're as classy as a docker.-

-Ha! They already told me.-

_Great_. -Who? I hope not a gi- -

-A girl.-

/

Later that day, sitting in the arena restaurant, Kate watched Lazuli have a snack.

-Not to rush you, but we have to go home as soon as possible. Lapis will have already arrived, Ron will not be late.-

Lazuli, in the middle of demolishing a 1-kg beef fillet, assured her that she would be done before Krillin left the locker room.

All tied up in the stroller, Marron whimpered: maybe she was hungry too.

Eighteen patiently shredded a piece of fillet for her.

-She's eating that already?- asked grandmother.

Eighteen shrugged, -I don't know. Let's try.-

Marron lost all her enthusiasm. As soon as mum put a full spoon in her mouth, she started whimpering louder than before, spitting all over the place.

-Okay then, eat whatever you like!-

Since she had started to wean her, Eighteen was often frustrated with Marron: the seven-month-old would throw tantrums every time she or Krillin tried to give her food that wasn't breast milk.

-Just eat, Lazuli. I'll take care of her.-

Kate took it upon herself to calm her favourite (and only) granddaughter.

Eighteen felt sick at the thought of that effort, squared. -How did you manage with two?-

-Don't tell me. You threw everything to the ground.-

-And my brother?-

-From him, I had to hide the food. He was fat.-

There weren't many people who could make Eighteen laugh; however, the simplicity with which mum revealed detail made her laugh out loud.

Was Seventeen really fat?

Kate saw Lazuli grimace and massage her temple.

-Arenas are always so noisy ... they make me dizzy.-

Kate, who also hated noise and razzle, was just thinking that inside the restaurant one could spend a moment of peace with her daughter and granddaughter.

But how Lazuli had already explained, her sensitivity was augmented.

-For you it might be quiet but I hear everything echo, mum. -

For her there was never absolute silence, absolute darkness. Her senses created a single super stimulus that never stopped. Kate wondered what the world her children perceived was like, a world that accelerated or slowed down, lived to the full or ignored in its speed.

It was precisely those augmented senses that gave Lapis and Lazuli that need to sleep every now and then: every sound, every color could turn to sensory overload for them.

And every pain was probably only a scratch.

Kate saw her daughter curl her upper lip.

-What are you feeling, Lazuli, that I can't?-

-Perfect timing, a small earthquake. Nothing special, low magnitude, I would say around 1.-

So low that even the seismographs never picked it up.

Kate's cell phone rang and she read the text message with Marron still sitting on her lap, -It's Ron, he'll be home and start making the birthday dinner soon.-

That was good news for Eighteen: Mum wouldn't be cooking!

/

-Tell me what it is!-

Seventeen turned hopefully to Carly, pulling the handbrake in front of Kate's house. He couldn't resist: when he had landed in Highwick he had seen a rental service, had paid out of his own pocket, and had left with Carly in a van that could fit at least ten people. A different choice than usual. He had flown in from the North and left his jeep in Saint-Paul.

-What's what?- she teased.

-My gift, heck.-

Kate had left spare keys for him in the usual place, under the wobbly tile covered by the doormat.

They had all agreed that he wouldn't give a damn about seeing Krillin fight; they hadn't come back yet.

Seventeen went straight to Kate's big kitchen. He was thirsty, but first served Carly a large cup full of fruit juice; he sat quietly on a countertop drinking from the carton, but a sudden jolt made him choke.

-Easy,- Carly talked like one does with kids.

-Woah, an earthquake. Magnitude 0.97. Didn't you feel that?-

And of course she hadn't.

_"Basic humans..."_

In search of the kitchen paper, Seventeen found a note from Kate.

_Lapis: if you come back here first, assemble the new table for me. Kisses mum. "_

-Kisses mum,- he mocked, annoyed at being taken for a handyman.

Carly sat patiently on the sofa to watch_ the handyman _take off his hoodie and get to work.

The tight microfibre let her see the muscles on Lapis's back, firm flesh swelling and quivering with every movement of his.

Lapis had left her with the memory of a boy's body, nervous and growing. A year before she had found a man, in all his balance. When Carly held his hand she literally felt the weight of his power, but looking at him when he trained alone he seemed light, elusive.

He looked just delicious. Involuntarily she clenched her legs.

Seventeen was juggling various kinds of screws, -Pass the drill?-

-I don't have it here.-

-It'll be downstairs. I'm going.-

Carly followed him with her eyes. She walked silently to the cold laundry room, in the basement.

-I can't find it…- Lapis complained, turning his back to the door.

Carly locked the door and turned off the lights, getting his attention.

-Come back up, I have to put- -

-We're all alone in this big house…-

Ten days since she had last been with her Lapis, _ten._

Seventeen too remembered; Carly was excited to see him approach, eyes full of intention standing out in the dim light.

Seventeen started kissing her and she shivered in the cold basement, her cleavage unbuttoned and Lapis's warm breath against her ears.

She instigated him a little more, -Lapis... in your mother's house? Aren't you ashamed?-

Carly's shock was only meant to stoke the fire and he knew it. -As much as you are.-

Carly was the only one who remembered it had happened even _before_, with Kate and Lazuli out of the house. She twirled in her dress and showed Lapis her panty: he must never forget that there was only one man in the world who could go under her skirt.

For Seventeen kissing Carly was like quenching his thirst, it appeased a need and replaced it with peace, though the more he drank of her the more he wanted her. And Carly clung to him, demanding to be laid out on some surface. So docile, so exciting.

They probably had little time; Seventeen took her in that little room, there and now.

It was a stolen moment under a dress, no item of clothing fell on Kate's floor. Face to face with her Lapis Carly moaned, almost screamed, and there was no one in that quiet house who could see that it wasn't screams of pain.

Seventeen didn't get to reach his climax multiple times as he usually did, and wanted to enjoy that single orgasm even more; he pulled Carly's breasts out of her dress, he stretched between her legs,thrusting, inhaling the scent of life of that thin skin, red with him rubbing.

Carly involuntarily twitched her abs as she felt Lapis come inside of her; he grabbed her buttocks and thighs and took a deep breath, eyes closed.

It had been giving in to the urge, a quick but intense pleasure.

Carly's heart filled with fondness, seeing him take her belly for a small pillow like in the old days, his arms wrapped around her waist and those two rebellious locks between his eyes; they rose and fell to the rhythm of his breathing.

Knowing it wouldn't hurt, she squeezed him tightly, she sniffed; Lapis looked up and gave her a mischievous smile, the kind that needed both lips and eyes.

Occasionally Carly would have a little cry after love, Seventeen got up from her and gave her a peck on the nose.

-You ended up passing the drill to me,- Carly giggled.

Seventeen felt like laughing, _the machine gun_, _the drill_...it actually turned him on when Carly talked like that, because the visual impression one had of her was quite angelic.

_Little vixen._

He buttoned up his pants, giggling to himself.

-What's on your mind?-

-My sister has a ton of roommates; she'll always have to do this.-

Seventeen suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching from somewhere out in the street.

Who was coming to Mum's house? What a drag not to be able to feel _ki_.

He flung himself up the stairs with the drill in his hand and took care to remain diligently bent over the work to be finished; he was two minutes ahead of Ronan, who came in humming when only one leg was missing from the table.

_Frogman_: Seventeen had had to show up with a hard-on to welcome _Frogman._

-Hi, Lapis! Did you put that together?-

Still with those rhetorical questions; Seventeen just raised one corner of his mouth.

Kate was telling the truth, the mouth was the most eloquent part of the boy's face.

Lapis looked annoyed, even more than usual; and when Ronan saw Kate's future daughter in law peeking out of the stairs, all flushed red, he put two and two together. He retired to the kitchen with the shopping bags and winked. He had been twenty too, some time ago.

_"Don't look at me like that, I won't tell your mother."_

/

The birthday party was a success for everyone, even for the twins. Kate really understood them, she hadn't embarrassed them with inappropriate gifts and silly songs. They were simply a happy family sharing a moment of joy.

Ronan was also good at concocting cocktails and Seventeen had stopped asking Carly about his gift: it was from the second glass that she only responded with hoarse laughter.

She couldn't hold her liqueur...

However, Carly knew well it was _present time_. Taking advantage of a moment when Lapis was busy having a conversation, she rummaged in her bag looking for the box, and also for her pill blister: it was 10 o'clock.

Carly learnt, however, that that blister was already over: she had forgotten to put the new one in her bag.

_"It's ok, I'll take the pill home."_

She and Lapis would be back in the North that same evening, he was telling Kate just then.

Carly hopped to his side, -Lapis! I'm sleepy and my headache is killing me, but I haven't forgotten your present!-

She handed him a small box, with no logos or bows. From what Seventeen could smell, it contained something metallic.

Eighteen and Kate already knew what it was, -Open the box!-

It was keys. Car keys. Keys with the unmistakable blue and white chequered logo.

/

The much desired gift lay at the Der Veer home; George wasn't there, he had gone to visit his ex-wife, Carly's mother.

-It's hot in here, Lapis! AC please!-

Seventeen had dragged Carly into the van and parked in front of her house.

-I've already turned on the AC.-

It was the first time Seventeen had seen her drunk. He would probably have to stay at the studio flat and look after her, tomorrow; Carly didn't know that feeling giddy and with her a vice around her head was what awaited her.

-Ready?- Carly pointed a remote control at her father's garage.

And then Seventeen saw it.

From the lit garage, the elegant outlines of a brand new roadster, ready to be driven, loomed before his eyes.

-No way, a BMW Z4...Booyah!-

Carly laughed heartily as Lapis jumped out of the van, new keys in hand.

Seventeen stroked the chassis, of a _discreet_ ultramarine blue; it was almost hard to breathe, heart pounding he got behind the wheel.

The roar of the engine was nearly orgasmic, a shiver of joy ran down his spine, ears to heels.

_"This is pretty sick."_

Carly was the best, he didn't deserve her!

He ran back to the van to hug her, but found her sound asleep. She was snoring like an old mountaineer.

Seventeen was not familiar with hangovers, he himself had none: maybe he had to fetch her an aspirin, Central City was full of night pharmacies.

But first, a quick drive with his new roadster was a must.

Seventeen made sure to cover Carly with his jacket and lie her down on the seat, at least she wouldn't wake up stiff; he pushed the van into Mr. Der Veer's garage and disappeared aboard the Z4; he ended up driving all night, only late in the morning did he remember that he had never stopped for aspirin, and that he had left Carly locked in the garage.

/

-Did he really leave you in a garage, with a hangover?- Lillian laughed, helping Carly pack boxes.

It was true indeed.

The hangover had lasted two days, messing with her routine; Carly had stayed mostly in bed without studying, with a headache.

Birthday night had become a dusty memory, yet Carly remembered waking up locked in the van, with Lapis missing. A month later she was still angry.

-Maybe that's why he suggested you two live together.-

-It's not official! We just talked about it. You know what Lapis is like…-

-And why are we here boxing stuff up, then?-

Carly couldn't live in that studio flat forever, it was obvious. Or maybe it was superstition?

She preferred not to think about it, -I have to pee.-

Lillian was left to seal a box with duct tape, -Then come and help me! You've already peed a hundred times.-

At least Carly was polite; at work, her male colleagues notified her shamelessly.

Back from the bathroom, Carly scanned the fridge. Was she already beginning to live with the prospect of moving? The only ready-to-eat thing she had there was a nearly empty gherkin jar.

Meanwhile, Lillian was lifting some boxes for fun.

-Do you realise the standard I have around me?- Carly pointed out. -I feel like a sloth.-

Lillian wasn't even sweaty. In fact, between her and Sev...

-You think I can drink this?-

The real redhead stared at the brine in the jar and tasted a sip; once she assured she liked that sharp, salty stuff Carly downed it all, with Lillian making a face at her.

-Ugh...how the hell did you just do that?-

-Savoury over sweet, hands down.- Sometimes sweet flavours even made her queasy.

Lillian pretended not to have seen Carly drink gherkin brine and went on to box pots and books.

Carly weirded her out lately: when she went to her place she made her open the windows, "that stinks" here, "huh but what a smell" there, she complained about the scent of the new laundry detergent (Lillian had stopped buying the one from the generic brand in the 5-litre bottle) or of the floor cleaner.

It would have been cool if Carly and Sev had moved to Viey and occupied lodging 36A, the flat over Lillian's.

She and Carly had been roommates, they had shared a roof, a table, secrets.

But in retrospect, it might have been too weird. She and Carly had shared much more than a chalet.

/

The roadster, kindly offered by Mr. Der Veer too, wasn't the only gift Carly had thought of.

One afternoon she took Lapis to a kind of clinic, in a side street of Monarchy Ave.

-There's another present waiting for you actually. I have waited because I needed your approval.-

Seventeen sniffed the air that filtered imperceptibly from the building, it smelled of disinfectant and animals.

Carly rang and pushed the automatic door; soon Seventeen found himself in a clean room, swarming with cats playing, sleeping, or watching humans with customary superiority.

They were in a North City cattery.

-Say, do you want to take a cat home?- Seventeen teased Carly with his irreverent eyes.

-It's for your birthday!-

-My birthday...you just want to take a cat.-

-Miss Der Veer?-

A woman met the student who had brought a cat there two weeks earlier. She gave off a very faint odour of cheese, Seventeen noted with surprise that even his _basic_ _human _had noticed it.

Carly pretended to scratch her nose to cover it. Poor lady, she looked kind but smelled a little.

-I want to know if that baby girl is available for a quick meeting.-

-What is it, your daughter?- muttered Seventeen, sullenly, following Carly and the woman with folded arms.

-An adoptable hairy daughter!-

_"How awkward." _

Seventeen bit his tongue in boredom, watching the lady catch one of those fluid, spineless beasts that could bend at any angle.

The lady knew that this student was, rightly so, to decide together with her boyfriend; at the end of May they would finally move in together, if he wouldn't change his mind…

She smiled at Seventeen, -Miss Der Veer brought us the cat after she sterilized it herself, in class. I saved it for her, yesterday a family came by and wanted to take her home.-

The young cat Carly had done that last drill on had no microchip, nor a registered owner.

Often those who carried out civil service in the city brought abandoned animals to veterinary students. In exchange, they ensured their health before taking them to kennels, catteries or various shelters.

This was the case with the cat now sitting like a princess in Carly's arms.

-Here she is, it's her. Do you like her, love?-

Seventeen went to look at her closely and was immediately amused by her large blue eyes, long whiskers and tufts of black fur on the tips of her white ears. They looked like brushes.

-She has eyes like yours,- the stinking lady couldn't help but look at Seventeen.

But the cat must not have felt safe: perhaps that other human who was approaching her was not like the one who was holding her!

Like Botz, like the wild animals that Seventeen occasionally encountered in the forest, the cat also felt instinctively threatened by him.

-Oh no, don't do that!- Carly squeezed the cat tighter as she flattened her ears and, faster than expected, bit Lapis's finger.

The cheesy lady fidgeted, but Seventeen was calm. The cat's sharp teeth hadn't even marked his skin: he had let her.

And the cat, in turn, was surprised by that total absence of reaction.

-See?- whispered the cyborg, holding his hand out. -I'm not doing anything to you.-

Slowly the cat realised that she had nothing to fear. She began to sniff his hand and then, perhaps as a sign of peace, looked him in the face and uttered a long diplomatic "Meow".

-Are you talking to me?- Seventeen giggled. _"I like you." _

He was growing fond of that ball of fur that had already filled his dark shirt with hairs; the cat had, in fact, moved from Carly's arms to Seventeen's. He had never had cats before and was confused when that one started _literally_ vibrating. All it took was a few strokes behind her brush-ears.

Carly put her arm around the waist of her Lapis, -Her name's Pencil. Shall we take her home?-

Seventeen replied with a delighted smile, aimed more at the cat than at his girlfriend. He glanced at her tail, all white with only a black tip; Carly had chosen a perfect name as soon as the cat was brought to her.

Pencil had by now surrendered to the cuddles of her new master and he could not resist the pads on her feet, her fleshy nose and her vibrating belly. She was purring, she was happy.

There had been a spark!

Seventeen once again felt grateful, Carly always knew how to hit the mark: that Pencil cat was a gift that almost rivalled the Z4.

/

Thoughts of the author:

This was a calmer chapter. Nothing major happening here (or maybe not?)


	34. Faith, Hope, Love and Luck

Verny was the last place served by the great road which climbed up the valley from North City; the former capital lay at a much higher altitude than the new one and in early May there was still snow on the ground, in small heaps piled on the sidewalks and outside the chalets.

Passers-by and people across the street were surely thinking that the girl in pink, sitting yawning on the fence outside her home, was the typical slacker who gets waited on hand and foot by her man.

Anyone who had stopped to watch that ordinary moment, a couple moving into one of Verny's many chalets, didn't understand how the boy could go back and forth carrying stacked boxes as one brings plates to the table.

When Lapis had started emptying the jeep Carly had tried to help, but he had insisted on letting him.

-Eh, he's enjoying his workout!- Carly justified herself to their viewers, smiled and raised her hands, before closing the door to their new home.

The home of Lapis and Carly.

It was a three-bedroom chalet on two floors, with a long carved balcony, recently refurbished but not stripped of its older personality.

The couple would inaugurate them living together on a quiet street in Carly's favourite Northern city.

Carly hadn't known she had to thank Lazuli, ever since Lapis had mentioned that possibility.

Seventeen was impressed beyond words with the roadster: was there a way to repay the legendary Carly for such an amazing gift?

Seventeen had braced himself and sought advice from his sister.

Maybe he should have asked for Carly's hand!

No, Ronan and Mum had just risked separating due to too much haste.

_"Start by moving in with Carly, before thinking of getting married. I wonder how long she's been waiting for you to ask her, poor thing."_

Eighteen was right. Always right.

Before Carly turned twenty-four Seventeen had taken her to see the house, without telling her that he had already signed a two-year contract.

When they crossed the threshold, Seventeen felt Carly's stress; he had seen her relax when she had realised that the new house had been cleaned with the same products she used in her studio flat. Seventeen was thoughtful, since sniffing certain detergents had put his Carly in trouble lately.

_"Please, no floral fragrances!" _Lillian had warned him.

Whenever she visited Lillian and sniffed even the slightest hint of hibiscus, patchouli or chamomile, Carly always seemed on the verge of _reupholstering_ lodging 36B, with the disgusted grimaces she made.

Carly hadn't had to wait until the end of May: on the 2nd Lapis had wished her happy birthday with a bunch of keys.

Seventeen had watched sweet Carly hold the keys to their new home in disbelief; she had sprung into his arms and hadn't held back her tears.

_"Why didn't we do this before?"_

Seventeen had never thought about it.

_"I don't know. The important thing is that we're doing it now."_

And so they were there, house still full with boxes, but at home. Together.

Pencil was the first to take the double bed, the most comfortable place in the house, covered with an old but soft duvet.

-Three bedrooms, Lapis. What for?-

-One for us, a game room and a study for you.-

Seventeen had chosen a spacious chalet on purpose, why living with the bare minimum if they could afford more space?

The house was unfurnished: the landlady had only provided a wardrobe, two chairs, a bed and a sofa.

-Tomorrow let's go get more furniture and a decent sofa, I saw one …-

Carly sat on the bed, listening to Pencil's purr; she smiled at Lapis, glad to see him so excited with this new phase of their life.

/

Evening had fallen, it was time to put together their first dinner in the new home.

-We don't even have a table!- grumbled Seventeen.

-We have a sofa, love.-

The pantries were empty, there was a lot of shopping to do: now they lived in Verny, restaurants, sushi bars, pubs and so on and so forth were at easier reach.

For Seventeen the solution was clear, -Carly, my powers don't include making laid tables appear out of nowhere. Let's go out.-

-After all you ate lunch, you wouldn't need dinner…-

-But _I want _dinner.-

Carly giggled: she would have loved to spend a night out with Lapis, at the restaurant, then at the bar, kissing, if she hadn't felt dead tired. It was an atavistic weariness that spread from her bones, stronger than her youth.

-I'm sorry, Lapis, I'm really dead. Can we order?-

Carly had been sleepy for several weeks, she slept more than usual; okay she was a _basic human _and those quickly ran out of energy, but Seventeen had never seen anyone sleep that much; he dropped onto the sofa and Carly put her arm around his shoulders.

-Ok Carly, let's stay. But the order is my choice.-

/

Shortly after Seventeen was distributing the newly arrived delivery.

-... two burgers, my chips and...this salad?- he laughed, holding the plastic bowl up. -What's your problem?-

-Chips are more caloric!-

Of course, Seventeen knew how it would end: women never wanted chips but then stole them. It was guaranteed, a _girlfriend problem _: Brent said it about Lillian too.

Seventeen was about to flip the Terminator switch on his double cheeseburger when it occurred to Kate to call him. He couldn't believe it...

"Excuse me for a moment, Carly. What is it, Kitty Kat?"

He walked to their bedroom, closing the door. Left alone and hungry, Carly began to nibble the salt sent by the pub, undecided on what to do with those inviting potato wedges left unattended. She reached out and Pencil stared at her, guessing her thoughts.

-Well? Only one.-

The cat emitted a small _meow _of disagreement: with chips, you know, one leads to another and you run out...

_"Oh oh...what now?"_

Lapis was still on the phone, Carly didn't know if she would have time to order more.

/

Seventeen was nimble; three days after the move he had finished tidying up all the content of the boxes. One morning, the insistent sound of the bell interrupted him from folding a basket of clean laundry; he ran into the backyard to open the gate.

He certainly did not expect to find Carly's educator friend and that boy posing as her honorary son. The educator looked at Seventeen as if to say _"Isn't it a bit early?" _as he cheekily took long gulps of his morning beer.

-Anna. And...you.-

Robbie, the truth teller, returned Seventeen a look that wasn't bursting with enthusiasm, -Oh, you again.-

-What do you mean 'me again'?-

Robbie was really, really blunt, -I wanted Carly. Why doesn't she send you away?-

-Robin!- Anna scolded, secretly amused.

Seventeen was undecided about laughing at such impudence (after all, he was very brazen himself) or getting mad. When in doubt, he finished his beer.

-Carly's sleeping; come back later,- he dismissed them.

Carly had informed Anna of the change of address and she had had to leave with Robbie as soon as the van had brought the group home to Viey. The two were about to turn around when they heard a voice calling.

-Robbie, Anna! Finally!-

Carly greeted from the balcony, happy and in a dressing gown, hair down and bulging nipples pressed against the malleable weave of her tank top; Seventeen felt jealous for a moment that these _strangers _could see _his _Carly in such a private way, as if they were on par with him.

The child began to whimper with delight when he saw his fairy queeny; Carly ran into the garden and hugged him with love and nostalgia. He had grown...

-Oh, my little Robbie! I missed you.-

The vet gave a welcome hug to Anna too, -Would you like to stop for breakfast? We have baked beans, fresh bread, eggs, bacon,...-

Anna acknowledged that it was almost noon. Maybe they could have stopped for lunch.

Seventeen watched Carly chase after Robbie and play hide and seek in the garden for perhaps half an hour, until the kid climbed a tree and Carly gave up chasing him.

-Play with me! Let's play!- Robbie exhorted her, not calculating Anna and her orders.

Carly had got tired, -Time-out for me. You can play with Seventeen.-

The young lady nodded at the blue-eyed man, with clear disapproval of the latter.

Robbie never knew his name, he didn't spare him -What a funny name you have!-

-Obviously, the two of them are Centries!- Anna scrambled, hoping that the _top ranger _wouldnot take offence.

Later, at the table, Carly talked to Anna about a tour to the Niaz village and Robbie studied Seventeen. If the latter poured himself tea or took a strip of bacon, Robbie poured or took twice as much, filling his small mouth with absolute haste, staring at the young man with a pompous air. All in total silence.

_"Little beast..." _Seventeen ignored him.

The mistress of the house got fed up, -You two must learn to tolerate each other. Robbie, Seventeen is my love and will always be with me; Seventeen, Robbie just wants affection. If you give him some you won't hurt.-

The cyborg thought that it wasn't worth getting jealous, after all: Robin was just a child, one more person who loved his girlfriend.

He pushed his empty plate away with a sigh, -Okay, I can play with Robbie.-

The child was waiting for nothing else; he darted out of the kitchen, running as fast as he could.

-Careful sweetie, he's fast!- Carly warned; but Seventeen caught him and lifted him up.

Robbie yelled, -Put me down!-

-No!-

Seventeen tossed him so high that the girls screamed in fright. Robbie, on the other hand, was screaming with joy and surprise, he had never played like that with any grown-up.

-Wee! I'm a _terrodactyl_!-

It soon wasn't clear who was having the most fun. Seventeen realised how right his Carly was: he was wary of everyone, not just of that little boy.

However he had wanted to trust her and playing with Robbie had turned out to be enjoyable. Every time Eighteen let him hold Marron he felt happy, every time he saw Carly with Robbie he couldn't help thinking that, one day, his children would have the best mother.

Before Anna announced they had to head back to Viey, Carly spoke to the boys, -Having fun together is nice, isn't it? Now I want you to give each other a hug. Robbie…-

The child had loved playing with the young man, but he was always very cautious: he approached him and timidly put his arms around his waist. He tightened his grip when he realised that Seventeen wouldn't shake him off.

Under Carly's eloquent gaze, Seventeen also leaned over and returned the hug.

Anna thought that guy was _the whole package_: smart, good-looking, nature lover and he even got along with children. That Carly girl was really lucky.

Finally Robbie managed to do what he wanted to do since the year before, he touched Seventeen's hair with satisfaction.

Seventeen had never hugged any other children but Marron, he was surprised at his innate gentleness: Robbie was thin and fragile, a very light touch was all Sev needed. He felt his soft curls on his throat, touching them felt like those ball-like moss pillows found in woods and prairies.

And that contact felt warm, soothing. In the end, Seventeen had always loved children.

/

At 9 pm Carly's day was drawing to a close, her notes reread for the umpteenth time were placed on the bedside table; for Seventeen, however, it was almost time to go to work.

It would soon be his turn to roam those rotten marshes, but before that he would have to remain on patrol in Saint-Nicolas.

" _It appears that _Solway Solvents _intends to use a rainwater catchment basin to dispose of industrial waste. I need you to catch them red-handed and...dissuade them," _John had ordered.

_"_Solway Solvents _is public, we have no jurisdiction," _Seventeen had snorted back. Were his ways coming in handy to John, now?

The boss had shown him a document, now that the company had gone private and had entered into agreements with the RNP, they had jurisdiction indeed.

Since when did Seventeen ask questions about _jurisdiction _before beating up or even disintegrating someone?

Ah, sure, ever since John had thought of punishing him: that was fucking punishment.

Scarf around his neck and hair band on his wrist, Seventeen was ready to leave, but Carly demanded his company until she fell asleep; given the trend, it wouldn't take long. Seventeen tried to steal a kiss from her.

-Please don't. Not with the breath you have…-

-But if I just brushed my teeth.-

Carly gave him an _elementary, Watson _look. -Then you might need to brush them again, right?-

How bold; she was learning from him.

He pretended not to mind, -Hm. Are you mad at me?-

Carly didn't seem in the mood to argue, -Don't be touchy, Lapis: it's not like since you're a cyborg and you're handsome then you're immune.-

Sweat, bad breath and everything; Seventeen didn't listen to her, she was being weird.

Carly settled in blankets and pillows, closing her eyes, looking back on the pleasant morning with Robbie, -Do you ever think about the direction you want to give our life together?-

-Well...Stay together.-

-We could adopt Robbie.-

Robbie was not adoptable and Carly knew it, she just liked to wonder.

For Seventeen the conversation was becoming uncomfortable, Carly could never have enough: they had just moved in together and she was already projecting herself into the less near future. And in any case...

-Adopting? Don't you want my children anymore?-

That surprised, almost mortified look got Carly even more smitten: she had always dreamt of having Lapis's children.

-Of course I do! But one thing does not exclude the other, there are many children in the world who need a family, and some of them are a village away..-

They could have had biological and adopted children, why not.

Was Carly thinking of a plan B in case he _could_n't anymore?

He had Eighteen's experience, but it was a guideline and not a guarantee: Seventeen didn't know what to really expect of himself, to what extent his physiology had been distorted.

By 9.30 pm Carly was already sleeping sound. Seventeen took a secret moment to hug closer those curves he loved so much; in his arms Carly's body felt sweeter than usual, her heartbeat faster than usual; he tied her hair in a braid for the night, she had forgotten to do it.

Finally, jacket and boots on, the top ranger turned off the light and left his sleeping beauty to her slumber.

/

Carly's student years had come to an end: the next day would be the fateful Monday of the final paper.

The tourist hiking season had officially begun: Carly could have joined Leni and Lillian, but she hadn't felt fit enough. The next important step would be the delivery of the diploma in September, a moment that she had pictured in her mind for years. Every so often she opened the wardrobe and looked at the elegant outfit she had already bought, just waiting to be worn.

Sunday morning Carly thought of that special and now near day, parking in the square of Viey and ignoring the gas light.

As she hoped she found Lillian at 36B, -Can you do me a favour?-

-Shoot.-

-Can you fill the Z4 up? I only half filled it.-

Carly hated the smell of gasoline, to the point of having nausea and headaches every time she smelled it.

In the North it was not like in the Centre, there was no _fuel man _to fill the tank at servicestations .

Although the whiffs of petrol always had the same effect on her, Carly had learned to suck it up: it had been a problem fo as long as she could remember.

Before getting into Viey, Carly had promised Lapis that she would fill up the tank of his roadster; maybe it was good that there hadn't been an attendantstanding near the pumps, Carly would have caught him when she had started retching and she had thrown herself out of the car.

-Aw, God! All right, I'm going now, before my shift. You solemnly swear you won't hit me if I make dents in the car?-

-This is Lapis's car, your choice...Thanks for your help,- Carly handed her a bunch of zeni and the keys to the Z4; she watched her drive away.

Carly had come down to Viey just for Robbie, she had promised they would play together from the time he had visited her at home.

She still had heartburn and couldn't stop drooling; maybe she had to give herself a break from super salty foods, she was sure she had given herself reflux.

In any case, she _had to _recover _immediately_, for that Sunday she had plans for Robbie and for a sushi night with Leni and Lillian.

Not showing up to her exam because of health problems that she had caused to herself would have amounted to throwing away all those years of sacrifice, but also of satisfaction.

/

When Lillian returned to Viey with the Z4 full and untouched, she found Carly pretty sprightly in the company of some children in the courtyard of the camps' house. They were soaking wet.

-We...made...water bombs!- Carly gasped, intent on jumping rope at a brisk pace.

Anna approached Lillian, -Are you coming too tomorrow? Carly and I are taking the children up to Niaz, to that pasture…-

Robbie, wrapped in a large towel, prodded the educator's arm, -I want to come too!-

-Only if you feel better.-

Anna stroked his damp hair, then turned to Lillian, -He's a little under the weather today.-

Ah ok. It seemed odd to the ranger girl that Robbie hadn't clung to Carly. He was probably too weak to jump rope.

/

Seventeen didn't much like the fact that Carly had become so somnolent; she must also be anxious about her exam so the cyborg had decided, on the spot, that some high mountain air would energise her. When Seventeen wrapped up his shift, on that beautiful spring Sunday, he went to pick Carly up and pulled her over his shoulder on one of their bird's-eye trips; Carly's favourite part was when they skimmed the surface of a lake and he held her steady, making her do a kind of waterski. While exploring the higher sites of the RNP, the top ranger had accidentally found a secluded lake, a liquid gem set among spires of red rock. It was a picturesque place, difficult to reach (the maps gave that path for difficult, _Expert Hikers _level ; it took crampons and ropes, so to speak).

Seventeen often went there on his own, to relax.

Aquatic plants rimmed with long, dark leaves grew around the lake, and a small clover field grew on a strip of land nearby: Carly had set out in search of four-leaf clovers, she could never find any but wanted to try.

And that time she found some.

-Lapis, look! _Two _four-leaf clovers!-

She started to run to Seventeen and stumbled, falling on the soft green carpet; Seventeen also lay there.

-They say every leaf has a meaning,- Carly smiled, touching the leaves one by one. -Faith, hope, love and luck.-

All things they had.

Carly intended to put the plants to dry in her books as a good luck charm; even if they weren't magical, they would make her smile.

-They also say that whoever finds four-leaf clovers will meet someone to love the same day.-

-Um?- Lapis spread his arms pompously. He had been in Carly's life for a while.

Carly blushed with love, gently smoothing those locks of hair that always ended up in his eyes, or mouth.

-It's true, I love _you _. I want to live as if I met you for the first time every day, because the intensity with which I am in love with you is always the same.-

Carly heard laughter echo in his chest.

-You're so sweet you'll give me diabetes.- Little or so Seventeen was always moved by Carly's expansiveness, but teasing her was almost a duty.

Carly turned the plants over in her fingers, -You never change! And I've got two... ohhhh!-

Carly propped her elbows in the ground and held her breath, staring at Lapis with an expression so astonished it bordered on shock: she was having a dazzling epiphany.

And then she confused Seventeen by darting away aimlessly, running and jumping randomly. Seventeen, laughter lingering on his lips, silently witnessed the triumph of her joy.

-Hey Carly! Let's go down now, if you don't want to be late.-

He didn't even know if Carly was still listening to him, her voice came from the lake shore.

-...I _am_ late! Yeeeah!-

In all that cheering, Carly fell and disappeared among the grasses. Seventeen found her still laughing, supine on the cold water. Her dress had become transparent.

-What's going on with you?-

She continued floating, -It's wonderful!-

-Falling into freezing water?-

As long as it pleased her...He heard her give off a squeak-chirp as she jumped and ran away again, with incredible energy, as if she couldn't sit still.

She could be so happy for two miserable plants, how not to love her? Eight years and Seventeen didn't know, or remembered, that Carly loved four-leaf clovers that much.

/

Carly, Leni and Lillian had established their _sushi nights _earlier in the year. It had become a Sundy routine.

-The three of us don't eat sushi. We wipe it off the face of the Earth,- Leni proclaimed, separating her chopsticks.

For that _sushi night _Carly hadn't been interested in her beloved sashimi; since she had ordered it every Sunday since January, she must have eventually grown sick of it.

Lillian and Leni watched her squeeze eight sachets of soy sauce onto her katsu curry.

-I really...you're ruining the dish!- Lillian admonished.

-I told you I prefer savoury.-

-Me too. But that and the brine, yikes.-

Leni had missed out, -What did she do with brine?-

-Kind of a dirty martini, but forget the martini.-

-This is what my body requires of me; and I respect it,- Carly concluded.

-That's sound reasoning,- Leni mused.

Then Carly complained of stomach pain; Lillian had seen her drinking vinegar and licking salt flakes.

Carly was lost in thought and when dinner was over she began to touch her waist, stomach and thighs. Whenever she gratified herself with a satisfying meal she would have to do that, feeling guilty.

-What a fool!- chuckled Lillian -she's checking if she's thin…-

-But it all ends _there _for her.- Leni looked up at Carly's cleavage.

-True, look at those jugs.-

-You had some work done?-

Carly covered her chest with her hands and made a face, -Do you think I need some work done?-

-You're all _buttery_,- Lillian pinched her belly, but Carly frowned.

-I'm a porker, right?-

Her eyes turned to pure jade, glistening with unshed tears. Leni nudged Lillian's flat abs, making a gesture of reproach.

-No and I wouldn't use the word "fat" to insult you.-

What was going on with Carly? Usually it was Lillian who told her to stop seeing herself fat. Now it seemed her emotions were in _caps lock_; Seventeen was right when he said exactly that.

Carly got nervous, whimpered, didn't know why she did that.

-Ahh, you got your period.- Lillian stroked her hair.

-No,- Carly muttered, her head on the table.

-Did something happen with the Seventeen?-

Leni blamed Lapis by default ...

Carly seemed to forget about her own crying, -Nothing negative, quite the opposite.-

/

Meanwhile, Krillin and Hacchan were fighting hand to hand.

Krillin hadn't seen this cyborg in decades, but had greeted him with friendship: they weren't really friends, rather some sort of old allies.

-Have you sat on your laurels, Hacchan?-

Krillin dodged a punch and kicked # 8's large body into the crumbly ground.

-I'll start with you, then I'll move on to her,- Hacchan glanced at Eighteen, who was watching them from the top of a natural gallery. They had withdrawn to fight in a scenario of very high caves, illuminated by plays of light.

-You have a long way to go!-

Eighteen was sure Hacchan had heard her. She wondered why she had accompanied them, Hacchan wasn't ready to face her. Perhaps, she had wanted to take advantage of the fact that Kate was sitting Marron for them…Eighteen walked through that cave system, moving away until she heard only the rumble of the fight.

She was completely alone in those corridors. Or maybe not…

Turning a corner, Eighteen was surprised by a figure in the distance; outlines of a massive body and a pointed hat, artificial retinas gleaming red.

Eighteen leapt into the dripping water and decapitated the figure with her bare hand, she listened to the clang of the head rolling to the ground. But it slid back onto the body as if attracted by magnets. The chubby, white face of a mime turned 360 degrees; he looked at Eighteen with cold almond-shaped eyes that resembled her own, a pallid imitation.

Eighteen prepared the synchronization with the kachi katchin and her hand glowed.

-Stop, 18.-

-Goodbye, _19.2 _.-

Eighteen attacked again; 19.2 blocked her arm, holding the flesh steady without touching the blade. -Kami thinks the threat is me.-

The android's voice was impartial, his grip left marks on Eighteen's skin.

-We are all irrelevant, even when born again.-

Eighteen struggled; 19.2 fell when she cut off his shin. -If Dende has entrusted me with this task, you are _not_ irrelevant.-

-If this is what you think, 18, then may Kami save you and those who are like you.-

19.2 picked up his shin off the ground and darted away across the rock wall.

/

Thoughts of the author:

For this chapter..I wish I could tell Seventeen a couple of things, too bad I can't go inside the story. And poor Eighteen, I never leave her alone.

The chapter ends with a warning, you must keep this in mind, because the meaning will come out sooner or later!


	35. Chickenpox

That morning in late May, in North City, Carly stood in line in front of the convenience store in the company of some elderly ladies; it was almost 7, soon the gate would rise. Carly would go about her business and then run off to the university.

She thought it stupid not to take the exam first, the rest would create a distraction; but perhaps, having to wait for the exam to be over and _postpone _would be an even greater distraction. There was nothing worse than grilling in the absence of an answer.

Carly hesitated before the shelf, heart pounding, then she heaved a deep sigh and grabbed that box. When she brought it to the cashier, along with a bottle of Coke Zero and a bag of crisps, the cashier smiled at her. Carly shrugged, a little uncomfortable; she paid quickly and shoved her purchases in her bag, running to her car, impatient to lock herself in a toilet on campus.

/

Meanwhile in the Satan City district, an ethereal blonde figure wandered among the spires and the flying buttresses of an ancient abbey. It consisted in a handful of stones in the middle of a very flat and very green lawn. Stones and grass overlooked cliffs that were not too high but benefited from the right light.

_"In a church ... I've never thought about it."_

It wasn't a real church, but that was the awe it evoked. There was something magnificent about that dilapidated building, only a shadow of what it had been.

Eighteen had thought of doing everything at the beach, the ceremony, the party. But now, walking up that aisle broken by nature that had been reclaiming its space over the centuries, she clearly felt that the moment she would swear her eternal love to Krillin, for the first time in front of all who mattered to them, must happen in a more suggestive place.

-It won't cost anything,- Krillin smiled, taking her hand and walking with her the rest of the aisle, to an altar that wasn't there, under a rose window without glass.

-I know,- Eighteen winked at him, fully understanding what her husband had meant.

-What will you ask him? I will at least have him repair the walls. And not let policemen or anything else come in.-

Krillin didn't know whose ruins they were, he and his bride could be in trouble.

Eighteen mused: there was so much they could ask for. She carried on contemplating what must have been a balcony, -An organ.-

Krillin raised his eyebrows, _"Yeah ..."_

Wedding music was no joke: the moment when Eighteen, the bride, would enter was not a moment to forget.

She had to amaze them; the music had to be great. Everything _had to be over the top_.

Maybe Krillin was already imagining it, -Organ and trumpets, Eighteen?-

Eighteen jumped to the top of the empty circle of the rose window, gazing at the magnificence of the ruins, -A pipe organ, the proper one; and trumpets.-

It would be a dream, a fairytale moment: something they could never get from a beach alone.

/

Carly was done with school.

There was still the graduation to go, but the exam was over and her studies had come to an end.

Once the last line of the paper was written Carly drove up the valley, she had an appointment with the group home at The Pine Grove camping. They would take the path to Niaz from there.

It was perhaps one of the best days of her life, Carly couldn't stop smiling: she was suffering from a severe case of cloud nine.

She had had to be careful driving up the winding roads, as wild as she was she didn't want to risk a head-on with a bus.

Euphoria gave wings to her feet: she parked at the entrance of the camping and started running on the dirt road, on her way to meet Lillian, Anna and the children. She didn't spot Robbie.

-You're early,- Anna smiled, looking at the time on her cell phone.

-Let's wait for Robbie, then. How is he?-

When Carly had gone to see him only yesterday he had looked limp.

Lillian spoke louder than Anna, -We're going without him, he stayed in Viey. He's got chickenpox.-

-He and Teresa, a colleague; can you believe that Teresa didn't have it as a child?-

Anna invited the children to gather, placing a small flag in the hands of the older girl,

-You coming along, Carly?-

Carly followed the group toward the fringes of the camping, a puzzled look on her face.

-You're finally a free woman,- Anna placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, vividly recalling her student years. -How did the test go?-

-Huh, which test?-

-The exam...the final exam.-

Anna's question had given her cold sweat, -Positive; I mean, I kicked its ass.-

It took a moment for Carly to realise what she was told about Robbie. And when she finally processed it, all the joy that had first overcome her seemed to reabsorb and then expand into an equally powerful and all-encompassing feeling.

However it was no longer joy, nor a benign "emotional stomach ache": it was a bloody_ panic attack_!

Carly had generously kissed and cuddled Robbie before Lapis took her to the clover field; she felt like suffocating, like dying.

She had to get out of there before she passed out.

-Sorry...I'm sorry.-

Anna, Lillian, and all the children watched in perplexity as Carly ran where the dirt road led her.

-Hey, are you okay? ... What's wrong?-

Anna was worried. She had seen Carly's face change.

-I don't know, I'm goin' after her.-

Lillian walked to the only place she found on that little road, where there were fewer trailers: the camping's bathroom.

No vacationer was washing or doing their laundry, there was absolute silence.

-Carls? It's me, open up.- Lillian started knocking on all doors. -I'm worried for you. What happened?-

-Go away …-

A whimpering voice, belonging rather with a frightened kitten than with a human, rang out from behind a door. Carly came out of the toilet and leaned against a sink; Lillian wondered how one could be so pale and so red at the same time.

-Please replace me with Anna and the children.- Carly tried to compose herself, but couldn't start the sentence without melting into tears, -I want to go home.-

-Okay, okay, but first tell me what's up.-

A man innocently walked into the public restrooms to mind his own business and was stared at by the girls, standing by the sinks.

Carly frowned, -I'm ok.-

_Ok? _

-Fuck, it Carly! Sorry, but don't take me for a fool.-

A few younger girls in bathing suits entered en masse, grouping in the shower area.

Carly swallowed a lump of tears and fear, -It's nothing, Lillian.-

-No. If you want me to help tell me,- Lillian frowned. -You can't expect something from me and don't tell me anything, I'm feeling concerned. Did you flunk your exam?-

Carly shook her head in stubborn silence, like a child.

-Is it because Robbie got sick?-

Lillian knew that unconsciously or not Carly treated that boy as if he were her own child; it was understandable that she was now in pain for him, chickenpox was so fastidious!

-Everyone has had chickenpox and usually you survive,-

-I bloody haven't!- the real redhead sobbed, gasped, hissed, with the fake one trying to comfort her. She was really panicking.

Lillian had a hunch that what poor Carly feared was the disease itself.

-Come on Carly...don't be so afraid of chickenpox! I bet you feel like you have a temperature now because you keep thinking about it. Like when you have a bug on you and you sweep it away, but you keep feeling it creeping everywhere…-

Carly looked around, wary; the girls kept giggling, perhaps she could talk discreetly.

-I can't have chickenpox …- she muttered, not wanting to satisfy Lillian's request.

Of course, no one was dying to have an exanthematous disease that included scratching like there was no tomorrow.

Lillian sighed in exasperation when the gentleman came out of the toilet and Carly became silent as a grave again.

When they were again more or less alone, Carly whispered something in her ear and Lillian stood looking at her incredulous, shocked, totally speechless.

Then, slowly, Carly saw her bring her hands to her face, while her eyes turned red.

Lillian let out a series of moans, with irrepressible joy she hugged that sister, daughter of different parents.

Carly masked her inner storm with sass, -You're barking, Lillian …-

-You just can't tell me this kind of things, how can I not cry?-

Lillian squeezed Carly tighter and tighter, -I love you so much, too much.-

Carly wiped her tears; those minutes of anxiety had drained her of all the irrepressible energy with which she had shown up at the camping, just before.

However, seeing Lillian so happy made her smile again and she remained silent, as her bestie stared at her from head to toe, -Is it me or you're not showing?-

Carly regained her strength and kicked Lillian, ordering her through gritted teeth to shut up.

-I can't wait! We'll go through all the milestones together, won't we? Will you let me come to all the appointments with you?-

Lillian thought back to when they had first met, to the jokes they had exchanged, to all the times when Carly had mourned her lost love and she had wiped her tears; Lillian would be at Carly's side in every moment of that wonderful new chapter in her life.

-I will always come with you and I will ALWAYS take care of everything,…-

There she went again.

-Lillian! Lillian. Stop.-

Carly grabbed her arms tightly to force her to stop moving.

Carly loved Lillian so much that sometimes she forgot her friend was super excitable, a chatterbox, tiring. The pace at which she talked and thought was too much for Carly, exhausted in body and mind by the conflicting emotions of the yet brief day.

-First of all don't make random promises to me, Lillian, you can't follow me like a shadow. Second, you're not the one to 'take care of me'.-

_"Ah, yeah."_

Thinking of her two best friends, Lillian felt her heart fluttering, -You and Sev, wow, so much beauty. Sev?! The _reaction_?-

-He doesn't know.-

Lillian would see Seventeen at work later; she wondered if she could interact with him without thinking about Carly.

Carly gave Lillian a short but complicated confession, under her breath.

-No, no, no!-

-Why not?-

-Carly, this is a huge mistake to me. And not because Seventeen is a half-robot who can bench press Mt. Severny,-

Lillian wanted to be objective, -I really don't think he deserves to fall from the sky...haven't you thought about how he'll feel?-

Lillian defending Lapis, unbelievable; how ill she had spoken of him, just two years ago.

Of course Carly had thought about it, indecision had been plaguing her for almost twenty-four hours.

-The fuck, you'll crash him._ " has stopped working"_.-

Carly couldn't help but laugh, -It's just about _now_ or _later_. In the end, it's my decision.-

-His, too. Good heavens, Sev...Damn right sowing destruction, that wretch who wanted him a Terminator will be rolling over in his grave.-

In truth, Seventeen had sowed _also_ destruction, in the RNP they just didn't know.

In the end, the former top ranger would replace Carly to accompany the group home to Niaz. She had no other choice.

-What should I say to Anna and the others?-

-Nothing,- Carly was utterly serious. -Don't say anything to _anyone_.-

Lillian was about to ask "Why?", but Carly cut her off.

-Because if you do, I'll bite off your head.-

-How sweet of you…-

/

All the roommates in the Kame House had to be careful where they put their feet. It

was enough to turn around without looking to step on the girl, and if the girl was stepped on they would get beaten. Once Roshi had tripped over her and made her cry, Eighteen had thrown him through the kitchen wall.

She had then refused to fix it.

Marron could almost walk, there was no place in which she didn't slip, she liked to get behind people; Krillin was nailing some new wooden boards in the kitchen, Eighteen picked her up before she slipped between the rungs of the ladder, she watched her kick the air.

-This girl will grow up to be a football player…- Yamcha smiled, impressed by the speed at which Marron kicked her legs.

Her platinum blonde tuft had become long enough to bother her little eyes, Eighteen pinned it with colourful accessories. Mum looked at her baby's five little teeth, her chubby cheeks, her nearly invisible nose, and the adorable little rolls on her wrists and ankles. Her eyes were peculiar, a blue darker than some browns: like all light eyes they changed with the weather, and lashes so long made them appear almost black at times.

The incomparable sensation of feeling loved and needed, which Marron communicated to her with some gazes of hers, made Eighteen satisfied and amazed at being a mother; at having someone hold on to her and call her "Mumumum".

She turned to Krillin, -Can you believe she was in my belly?-

Eighteen always thought about it, seeing Marron grow and develop month after month.

-It's wild! She was so small and now look at her: she laughs, thinks, runs,-

the loving Krillin kissed his blondies, -It still amazes me now.-

Creating other human beings from scratch was truly a miracle.

Hacchan, unlike Sixteen, was able to understand that Marron _had come out_ of #18: he had always been in contact with humans and no longer struggled to see the cyborg girl in that key.

-I shouldn't have known this happiness,- she had told him on the day of the caves; Eighteen had not talked about 19.2 and his warning.

-Because were you a completion for Cell?- Hacchan had recalled.

Eighteen had nodded, almost in shame.

-How did it happen?- Hacchan didn't grasp the mechanics of the Red Ribbon creations. -How is it possible for_ a person _tobecome a _battery_?-

Sitting in the caves, Eighteen had stared at a natural skylight dripping with damp.

-Only Gero knew. Sometimes when I open a door to a dark room, I'm afraid it will shrink and swallow me alive.-

In that intense period, one month before the wedding, it had happened more often to Eighteen to wake up late at night from nightmares based on that monster. She woke up terrified, not realising on the spot that she was safe at the Kame House, with Krillin and Marron breathing blissfully by her side. And when she realised that the nightmare had not been real, she melted into a cry that scraped her throat and didn't release her.

Eighteen cried with terror.

Krillin then embraced her and only against him, in his arms, Eighteen could calm down.

Eighteen never talked about Cell, how she felt about him. But this new friend, Hacchan, inspired her to do so.

-Even now at night I dream of Cell catching me with his tail, spitting me out of his mouth...-

Eighteen hadn't been conscious when that had happened, but it was a disturbing thought that upset her on so many levels.

Hacchan's pupils dilated in dismay, -I'm not a full human, but I think it's impossible not to be scarred by such a thing.-

An experience like Cell was impossible to forget.

-Cell is dead, he won't come back for you.-

Hacchan had smiled with that ugly sweet face of his; he had pointed to Dende's scroll, in Eighteen's hands.

-The list of all enemy androids doesn't add up: it goes from #1 to #7, from #9 to #20 with the exception of you and Sixteen: but one is missing, #17.-

-Ugh, him; he's harmless.-

-No, Eighteen, none of them are _harmless_; we mustn't take any of them lightly!-

Hacchan's dedication was admirable:

Eighteen told him that #17 could hurt in other ways, but he wasn't interested in conquering Earth.

-Is he an infinite energy type? Have you met him?-

-Hacchan...Seventeen is my brother. And he's the only one of my kind.-

/

God forbid the brat came first to Saint-Nicolas and closed the _Solway Solvents _matter without her!

Before, Lillian always had that satisfaction; now, almost never.

Seventeen hadn't been very lucky in his patrols, he hadn't caught anyone red-handed.

As soon as the tour with the group home was over, Lillian drove to the rainwater catchment basin and, with good luck and her immense pleasure, she spotted a suspicious woman nearby. She was dressed as an office worker and was photographing the artificial lake. Lillian straightened her hat and snapped her own photos, -_Solway_ _Solvents_ has come to do shit in the wrong place.-

Lillian snatched the compact camera from her; the woman might have been dressed neatly, but her attitude was that of a thug.

-Ah-ah: you don't wanna do that,- warned the Olympic deadlifting champion, when the woman showed intention to attack her.

-Who are you?-

-The Queen in the Royal Nature Park.-

-No, she's just someone pretending to be me.-

The woman saw a boy appear; he must be half her age, devil-may-care attitude and headphones around his neck.

Seventeen had overheard Lillian arguing with the Solway Solvents employee despite being listening to music.

Lillian ignored the taunts, -Hi Seventeen. How are you?-

She stared at him so hard it made him feel uncomfortable. -Naff off, Lill.-

Lillian didn't give up, -I'm fine AND YOU?-

-I have to do this chore.-

His best friend was studying every angle of his face, -Aren't you feeling a little wired? No, not your circuits. Aren't you...nervous?-

-Er...no. Why?-

Was Lillian wishing him to feel nervous?

The wrongdoer let them quarrel and tried to escape, but the boy tripped her and pinned her to the ground with his foot.

_"Oh, honey..." _Lillian sighed.

The top ranger turned dryly to the woman, -Disposing of toxic waste here is unconscious, illegal, harmful, in short, never show up again.-

His gaze didn't feel reassuring to the woman, -You're hurting me...I'll sue you.-

-You were having better luck with me than with him,- the girl chuckled, before tossing the compact camera to the other park ranger.

-Give me back my stuff!-

Sev smashed the device with a clap of his palms, softly mimicking the sound of an explosion.

He let the woman get up, and she began to yell, -You treat me like that because my skin colour is different from yours! Racist bastards.-

Actually, Lillian and Seventeen had different skin tones themselves and hadn't noticed the woman's.

-You son of a…- Lillian grabbed her by the collar, unceremoniously; that kind of people made her feel like spoiling for a fight.

-How dare you! Racism is real, we treat you as you deserve because you're an imbecile!-

Lillian was a _masterpiece_.

The wrongdoer stared at the boy fiddling with his headphones and opening his mouth wide to laugh in her face.

She didn't like his laugh.

/

Elliott was waiting at the North City airport. The plane had just landed and Defiance only had a hand luggage, they could immediately go home and have a quiet evening.

The automatic doors in the "arrivals" section hissed on their hinges and Defiance's tall, dark silhouette stood out against the crowd. Elliott waited for her with his arms outstretched, embraced her on his chest.

-Hello Mr. Gontier!- Defiance crossed her legs around her waist and kissed him.

-Here she is! My little gypsy,- Elliott sought her lips.

What a privilege it was to smell the sunny scent of her skin, to hold his hands on her butt to keep her from falling. Defiance clung to him, fitting her "extra" 13 cm around his frame.

She was wearing waterproof shoes and a long down jacket, 15°C on a late May afternoon felt like Midwinter to her.

From the car, Defiance studied the pure but at the same time gentle light of the North, the coniferous forests, the mountains so high.

How different it was, the RNP: it was not an explicitly enclosed and demarcated area like Monster Island, without simple signs on the side of the road ( "Welcome to Royal Nature Park") one did not even know to be inside it.

Driving up to Saint-Paul, Elliott was slowed by other cars driven calmly, until he was appended to a three-wheeled buggy carrying hay.

Going home was taking longer than it should.

-Come on, roll on!- Defiance murmured. -It's very slow and doesn't let you pass!-

They weren't out of North City yet: Elliott explained to her that almost everyone there worked in the primary sector and that those slow wagons were a common sight.

Monster Island was a more remote place than the RNP, yet it felt more cutting-edge.

Defiance smiled at that rurality. _"Welcome to the North!"_

/

Seventeen had delivered the wrongdoer to the Saint-Nicolas police, taking her by air.

-Did you see her face?- Lillian laughed; she had made that journey clinging to Seventeen's back and was now sore from the effort of holding herself steady, but also from laughter.

The woman from _Solway Solvents_ had spent the short flight screaming like a baboon, Seventeen had chosen to go airborne for the fun of scaring her.

After ditching the thug, he went with Lillian to get his car.

-So tomorrow is your turn, Sev? The five swamps.-

At the dawn of June, finally.

The dashboard screen of the Z4 lit up with Carly's phone call, Seventeen put the headphones back on.

_"Hi love, are you coming home tonight?"_

Seventeen certainly wanted to spend the night with her, and she wanted him to pass by the supermarket.

"Carly, I'm still up in Saint-Nicolas...what do you need?"

_"Basil ice cream, they sell it in the superstore out of North City; I've tried it once and I want it again..."_

She also wanted Coke.

"Look, we have Coke at home. No it's not zero. Come on, don't whine. See you soon."

-What's the matter,- Lillian inquired, seeing him irritated.

-Carly wants some weird ice cream.-

-And aren't you going to get it?-

Carly could also go to the supermarket herself.

-I'm fucking going home; dealing with idiots gives me the munchkins. Like when you're coming down, you know.-

Lillian grinned, -Enjoy being so light-hearted while it lasts...wait, are you high?-

-_Light-hearted _and proud,- the cyborg clapped a hand on his chest. -And no I'm not high. It was a metaphor.-

Seventeen thought he was being rude, but for once he wanted to think about himself.

Lillian glared at him and walked to her jeep, muttering, -If that's what Carly wants, you'd better fuckin' go and get it.-

-Excuse me?-

-Ahh rascal, go and get Carly's ice cream!-

Lillian stared at him, pointing her finger, as if the fate of the entire universe depended on him. She remained in that pose until _the brat_ gave up; Seventeen snorted and returned a mental insult, yet set the roadster in motion and skidded towards North City.

/

The slow wagon and a red light had blocked Elliott for a reason: Defiance would be staying with him for two weeks, and the paleontologist wasn't sure if his flat was adequately supplied.

-We have my place to ourselves. Brent went to his girlfriend's...or whatever Lillian is for him.-

-Lillian Dahl? That Lillian?-

-The only Lillian I know. Can you believe she and Brent haven't done it yet?-

Even Elliott had conquered that base a long time ago...

_"I'm in no hurry, the last one who got in her bed is still that bastard, Joel."_ said the unsuspecting Viking.

-I still don't know what foods you prefer,- Elliott confessed, holding Defiance's hand between the aisles of the supermarket.

Defiance had fairly simple tastes when it came to eating at home.

She grabbed a packet of pasta and smiled happily, -Spaghetti soup. Comfort food, since it's cold.-

-Like, ramen?-

-No, Elliott, spaghetti soup.-

After shopping, it was time to go home.

Elliott found no nearby place to store the caddie.

-Oh, no...I'll be right back.-

It was 8pm and the supermarket was about to close, Elliott wondred how far he would have to go with the caddie. Defiance remained leaning against the car, texting her mother about the North. While she waited, she went off to throw away her empty bottle of water and her attention was drawn to the revving of an approaching engine.

Into the parking lot she had just crossed the road, when a sports car passed behind her at high speed.

-You jackass! 15 per hour!- Defiance barked in fear, referring to the sign indicating the speed limit.

She watched the car park between two others with a spin precise to the millimetre, doing no damage.

If she hadn't seen it, she wouldn't have believed it: in the North, either they didn't roll or they took parking lots as rally tracks...

Defiance complained to her mother:

_I just saw someone parking their car with a drift. _

Rikki disappointed her:

_Cool! Did you record it?_

The world gossiped so much about the South, but at least people behind the wheel were civilized.

_But mum, so chav! Welcome to the North._

Defiance slammed the door and from the windshield watched the chav get off and head towards the supermarket, no longer in a hurry.

It was a boy in her age range, on his cell phone; Defiance watched, curious. He didn't have a chav's face.

As if he had noticed it, he looked Defiance straight in the face with an eloquent expression, as if to say _"the hell are you looking at?"_

He wasn't looking at random, he was looking at her! Defiance refocused on her cell phone, not understanding what had intrigued her.

Meanwhile Elliott had returned from the other side of the parking lot.

Going up to Saint-Paul, Defiance felt strange to him, -...I'm sorry, for keeping you waiting.-

-No, I just saw how to park a car in the North.-

Elliott didn't understand.

-A teenybopper almost hit me with his _Lambo_, with his freaking piece of junk,- yelled Defiance, as angry as an old lady.

From her description, to Elliott it wasn't a Lamborghini; but a low-set hooligan's car was just a _Lambo_ to her.

-In any case, I wrote down the licence plate, so we can report it to the gendarmes.-

The raiders, the gendarmes; it was fun to have a girl from the South and to dwell on the linguistic differences.

-Sure, that's what we shall do.-

Elliott eyed her notes: the gendarmes would not intervene and that was not a plate from the North, but he _obviously _had to defend his girlfriend; he had never had such idiosyncrasies, but it's known that girls' minds were complex and that his car was not really a status symbol.

-Defiance, you don't mind if I'm not a fancy-ass Lambo kind of guy?-

She scratched his beard and kissed his cheek; she liked her Elliott _lumbersexual_.

/

The lady who had served her that time in February was still sitting behind the boutique's counter.

When she raised her head, she found that peplum blonde girl facing her.

-Good afternoon! Lazuli, is that right?-

Whenever Eighteen had to do something legal she used her birth name. That was the one also figuring on her credit card.

-I'm sorry, dear, but we don't have appointments available for another couple of- -

-I'm here for the peplum.-

Eighteen looked at the lady at the counter with an almost feverish look. She hoped no one had taken it away in the meantime.

-I don't need to try it again. Off the rack, remember?-

The woman was impressed by how that future bride in love with her dress had given it up. She lit up at those words,

-It's like it's been here waiting for you all this time.-

Eighteen hadn't stopped thinking about it, that was the dress that made her feel special.

It was going to be her wedding dress, not the bridesmaid dress that had gotten stained with blood. Two dresses, two different roles, two memories: the memory that Eighteen would have of herself in the white peplum would be different from that of the night she had almost lost Marron.

She had made up her mind not to let the memory of that pain overshadow her joy, to claim the right to feel like a princess.

When the lady returned to the counter with the dress of her dreams wrapped in an elegant lining, Eighteen felt her heart beating quicker.

She quickly swiped the credit card in the terminal and sighed internally as the receipt curled on the counter.

-It's yours, Lazuli. I wish you much happiness.-

The woman touched her hand, handing her her purchase.

Eighteen was moved by a rush of absolute joy, -So do I for you.-

/

Thoughts of the author:

How happy I am to have found space for everyone and under 5000 words! I'm happy to have written about Eighteen and Krillin, Defiance and Elliott, and Seventeen and Lillian 😅 joking aside, I love to describe their friendship because they have more chemistry than the periodic table (chemistry for me is also in friendship. There's chemistry every time there's a true connection.)

A little clarification on Marron's eyes: in the anime they are either black or blue, it depends on the saga (his physiognomy changes a lot with her growing) and therefore I found an expedient.


	36. Good News

Carly almost had _the conversation _that very evening. It was already 9 pm, and yet she couldn't sleep.

-Can I watch something?- Lapis had smiled at her; in spite of himself, he was too excited for that useless stupid swamps challenge. He didn't even need to sleep often, then if he was also thrilled it wasn't worth it, fair and square.

Carly had watched a bit of the movie with him, -Honey, what's the right time to do something important you're not sure about?-

What a strange question. Seventeen had been in a similar situation before when he forced himself to spill the beans and fill Carly's three-year gap.

-...Suck it up and do it.-

Early in the morning, Carly had watched him take off from the balcony of their house; he didn't need John's helicopter.

Lapis would be in the swamps for a week, when he got back she would have to talk to him. She didn't know _how_, but she had to say something. It was almost time.

Trying to fill her head withsomething else, Carly felt dismayed that the group home would be gone soon, without her being able to say goodbye to Robbie, or even Anna. Carly didn't mind doing anything to stay safe from the disease, but she was worried about Robbie.

She would be updated daily by Anna.

With the will to take care of herself, however, she wanted to get rid of the worm of doubt: only a serological test would tell her if she was incubating chickenpox or less.

That same morning, Lillian drove her to the hospital.

-They will look for antibodies to chickenpox. I hope I don't have any…-

Sitting next to her in the waiting room, Lillian felt Carly shiver imperceptibly.

-You'll put your heart at peace. You'll be fine.-

Later, while Carly sighed at certain questions from the questionnaire that the nurse handed her, the doctor approached Lillian, -Does she always look that white?-

-Well, she's a natural redhead…-

The doctor scratched his goatee and turned to the nurse, -Have her iron levels checked too.-

Lillian felt triggered: was Carly unwell?

-Are you two sisters?- the doctor inquired.

_"Yes"_ was the park ranger's instinctive thought. -No, just friends.-

/

In the Southeast it was already midsummer.

Roshi had taken _his granddaughter_ to the nearby Southern Archipelago National Park, Oolong and Turtle had gone with him; Yamcha and Chiaotzu had stayed on to train with Tien, who had decided to pay a visit.

Krillin and his wife were alone; they knew well that intimate moment would be elusive, like every other there at home.

For Eighteen the pleasure was even more intense when they did it_ like that_, with her face pressed against the sheets and Krillin's whole body resting on her buttocks.

The cyborg girl panted behind the gag she had fashioned, with the lingerie she had stripped off herself; the human kept her arms tied behind her back, hit her buttocks with his pelvis and with his hands; Eighteen's skin was so pale that those smacks left the faintest idea of red mark; every so Eighteen turned back to look at her man's stripped body, excited at the sight of his sculpted and sweaty abs.

When they did it that way_,_ Krillin would give in quickly; Eighteen soon felt him throb as he reached his release.

Eighteen had torn the lace of her thong with her teeth; without speaking she lay on her back, folding her legs and letting him see _everything._

Her flesh was inviting, red and moist like rose petals in the morning...but not a minute had passed.

-Let me take a breath, Wonder. I'm no longer a young man.-

Krillin speculated that he could _recharge_ _immediately_, if he was _like her._

-Imagine that: again and again, gush after gush, boom boom.-

-Do you really have to express yourself this way, Kril?-

From his smile, Eighteen realised how much the thought of multiple and close orgasms excited him.

-Do you think it would be possible?-

-I don't think you'd need to be _like me_.-

And in any case she didn't have a member; it was an awkward conversation, and Eighteen herself did not understand why she found it so.

Eighteen had been afraid that Krillin would no longer want to _do it like that _with her after she had Marron.

Sara had confessed that Bruno, even though he was always in love with her, could not let himself go to certain intimacies with the mother of his daughter.

"_He is convinced that he would disrespect me, sully me. What can I do, Lazuli, force him? " _she sighed, _"no. But I miss certain moments, doing it _dirty_. "_

Bruno cared about _purity_; he was not one of those who imposed his vision of things on his wife, however he had never grown fond of Sara's tattoos, he found they ruined her femininity, he preferred her in white lingerie. Eighteen remembered; she knew it was her ethereal colours that had physically attracted Bruno when they were only fourteen and twenty.

Bruno was a golden man, but Eighteen winked mischievously at hers, -I love that you always want to do it _dirty _with me.-

-What choice do you give me?-

The room rang only from the fan spinning and the couple kissing.

Eighteen stepped away from Krillin, pulling on his shirt. When she did that she never got the sexy girl-next-door movie look, because Krillin's shirts fit her well.

-I give you choice over everything, except for one thing: keep on wrapping it and we'll all be merry.-

Eighteen did not feel serene in saying those words: they were out of place, what did they have to do with that little moment of cuddles?

-And why shouldn't I?- Krillin watched her walk towards the mini fridge they kept in the room, looking for a sip of fresh water. -Is that about the argument we had the other day?-

Eighteen nodded.

Krillin wanted another child. And not just him, the whole Kame House seemed to want to pressure her to push out another baby.

_"What about a little brother?"_

_"Will you leave her an only child?"_

"_Why don't you have another one? In the end you can't get pregnant?"_

_"Is it because you are a cyborg?"_

Marron wasn't even a year old.

-Aren't you happy with me and Marron?-

Krillin's large eyes widened, focusing on the outlines of Eighteen, half naked in the half-light.

-Eighteen… you girls are my whole life. But there is always room for even more love in my heart.-

His was such an immense heart: the more love he gave, the more he produced.

Oh, Krillin...

Eighteen couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself. Yet he knew it was wrong, even harmful, to sacrifice herself just to please him. Her own happiness and serenity mattered as much as Krillin's: if Eighteen didn't take care of herself, who should have?

Krillin cared for her with extraordinary love, he had always done everything to make her life easy.

He was the kind of husband who, when she was pregnant and her back hurt so bad that she couldn't roll over on her side, turned her over and cuddled her with pillows and strokes, calmed her down.

Nevertheless, the first one who had to love herself more than anyone, better than anyone else was herself, Eighteen.

-I don't want to, Kril.-

Was it so wrong not to see herself having more children? She had had a child, her mother two, some women didn't want any and others dreamed of large families. Was there a right or wrong way a woman could feel about motherhood?

Maybe she was a cyborg and didn't understand; it must be her problem, in the end she was the weird one, _other women_ almost always wanted more children.

Marron was worth it, Eighteen wouldn't have given up on her daughter even if she had known that she would suffer to have her.

What Eighteen couldn't do was going through pregnancy again: she had bled, wept, lost hopes, dragged herself along for eternal days of nausea, ruminating like a cow, forced by her own body to constantly gorge itself.

Of course, if she wanted to feel better about it she could always talk to Kate, but by now Eighteen knew that pregnancy was not a bad experience for everyone.

When Roshi returned and Krillin went to meet him, Eighteen stayed alone with her cell phone; she came across a thread on in which many users complained about missing the bump, having had beautiful hair, about how "the typical symptoms were a myth to debunk" since they had had no nausea, no swelling. Eighteen often happened to read about that kind of experience.

An unknown end of the spectrum.

"_Well, lucky you! Those bitches."_

Perhaps karma repaired those breeders only useful for getting knocked-up with long and painful labours.

But karma did not exist: Eighteen closed the web page, not without secret jealousy.

/

By the dawn of June the last batch had managed to land in the swamps. The test for the last four shouldn't have happened that late, but all the rangers had been busy and John had pushed it further down the calendar.

Églantine had tackled the five swamps at the gates of summer only once, fifteen years ago, and was not impatient: it was better to do it in the winter, with the heat the marshes reeked, grew foggy, filled with insects.

-It couldn't be worse than this!- the woman sighed, gripping her shotgun and kicking the mud.

-How boring,- the top ranger complained emphatically, staring down at his own legs and those of his colleague, thigh-deep into a slobbery, foamy, acid vomit-coloured mucilage.

-I didn't deserve it, Seventeen. But you did.-

Églantine alluded to the meeting in February; John had done it on purpose with him.

-And I don't regret that.-

_"Attaboy..."_

Églantine had never worked with Seventeen, she had just interacted with him a couple of times. He had a reputation for being arrogant, unorthodox, Églantine hadn't been impatient to be in a group with him.

But perhaps she had better stay with him, since that year she was really listless and her knee ached more than usual.

-Well, I'm going. See you,- she announced, wading through the mud.

-Wait up!-

Seventeen knew he would be bored to death, so he was going to have a little more fun. Églantine watched him undo the light wool scarf from his neck and fold it into a long strip. Seventeen leaned down with his back to her, -Wanna help?-

He wanted her to blindfold him.

-Ok...Why?-

The ranger woman made a knot with the scarf, careful not to pull his hair.

-Because now I can't see. So I will be less bored.-

He always had the other senses, it was useless to go out of his way to reason with _Églantine_.

Seventeen immediately came into contact with the environment: he listened to the different sounds created by various plants and various depths of water, he used his skin to feel vibrations and tasted a sample of air with the tip of his tongue.

-What are you, a reptile?- Églantine laughed to see him.

-There's a grove over there,- he nodded behind him. -It will be less hazy.-

Églantine was almost certain she remembered a grove was there.

_"Crazy."_

Seventeen had no intention of spending the week with Églantine, or with that big comedy rucksack on his shoulder: he started rummaging in it and handing his ropes to his colleague.

-I don't need anything, you can take these.-

Then he gave her his tent and sleeping bag, -And these.-

He made a stack in Églantine's arms when he placed the saucepan, noodles and lighters on top, -And these. If you feel heavy, pass the gun.-

-Of course.-

Églantine knew that if he wanted to, he would take it.

Seventeen had kept his water bottle and first aid kit, strapped to his belt. He was finally ready to go.

-Seventeen? Can I come along?-

The five swamps were an excuse to be on his own for a while, but there was the danger of boredom...he could always ditch Églantine if she bothered him.

He shrugged, nodding "ok" with his blindfolded face.

/

Sleeping on the marshy ground would be uncomfortable and unhealthy. The large low branches of the grove were a better option.

Night had fallen and Seventeen was still blindfolded: lying on his back, he tossed pebbles into a hollow of the tree where he and his colleague were stationed. He always hit the mark.

Églantine went through all the essential items he had dumped on her, -Don't you need your torch?-

-Eh? No, I have night vision.-

-You're funny.-

Seventeen took off his blindfold and picked up a torch. He turned it on, mimicking the hum of a lightsaber.

-I'm one with the Force, the Force is with me- he declared to the tree, in a menacing voice, zigzagging the beam of light.

From the sleeping bag, Églantine smiled. The boy had to have his fun; even though he was the top ranger and carried out grown-up stuff (and as grown-up) in her eyes Seventeen was virtually a child.

/

Louisa Dubochet had long ago warned Carly that two cows of Michel Crozier's, owner of the pasture located between Viey and the Pessy plain, would soon calve.

One morning, still early for her, Carly woke up to the insistent vibrating of her cell phone: Louisa wanted her up to the cowshed to show some new interns how a twin birth in the Grey Fleece happens. It was something unusual in that breed of cows.

Carly didn't really feel like, but it was an opportunity a superior was giving her to show everyone how good she was: she couldn't say no.

She hastily brushed her hair and teeth, put on some shorts and rolled at the wrists the long and wide shirt (it was Lapis's) she had slept in.

Carly put on a white coat and picked up another in a bag, along with the tools of the trade; for breakfast she allowed herself a drop of water from a fountain, hurrying to her car.

/

Leni stood in line at Mrs. Crozier's little shop, buying fresh cream to eat with wild strawberries.

The wails of calving cows rang from the sheds not far from the shop; Carly arrived there after a slow drive, her eyes still clouded with sleep. She waved at Leni before Louisa intercepted her.

-_Little Bo Peep_, are you finally awake?-

Louisa looked eloquently at her watch; was it 10.30, what was her beloved vet doing still in bed at 10.30?

-Come on, come on!- Louisa threw her in the cowshed, in front of a handful of unpaid interns. -Guys, this is Der Veer, she worked for me for free. And she's doing it even now!-

_"This is abuse of power."_

Carly would have retorted if she had had energy to waste; but that morning she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, her stomach empty and her head dizzy.

Mr. Crozier stood a moment to guard the zoologist and her interns, while they watched a cow go in circles, perhaps to find comfort from contractions.

Louisa turned to Carly, -Der Veer here is obsessed with birds, but she's an artist with births: she pulls out calves like she'd shell hazelnuts. When she was a volunteer like you all, that was her daily bread.-

Carly was tempted to ditch the zoologist, -It's not obsession, Louisa. It was my specialization.-

Since her first internship births had been satisfaction for Carly, but it was also challenging; it was not easy to live with those that ended badly, even if it was part of the trade and of life, however unpleasant.

When lambs and calves died in her hands Carly cried, home alone.

Once she had shocked some interns while, with her heart in turmoil but her hands and mind cool, she had skinned a lamb that had not survived birth, to use its fleece. It was done to comfort the ewe, she had to explain.

/

Normally, when John brought up the challenge of the five swamps, no one else but ranger groups went there.

Seventeen, always followed by Églantine, knew for sure that the trail he sniffed did not belong to the other two colleagues in the batch.

-What is it now?- Églantine exhaled wearily as she watched the blindfolded top ranger wrinkle his nose and cross his arms.

Seventeen had promised her he would lead her to a stream of clean water, to gill their empty bottles; but by now she was no longer sure he'd stick to the plan.

-If you're thirsty you can boil the mucilage,- he cut it short, in fact. -Me, I think I'm busy.-

-Eat the _mushillage_ yourself, Seventeen.-

-Mucilage.-

-What did I say?-

\- _'Mushillage'_.-

Églantine still complained, yelled for him to wait for her but Seventeen had scooted forward, still seeking the source of the scent.

/

The furtive figure squatting in the cattails, in those swamps known to be deserted, let out a little cry when she found herself the victim of an ambush. With that cry she revealed to "the attacker" that she was female.

-What is a civilian like you doing here?-

The boy had a blindfold over his face and the employee had seen him only once, but his features were easy to remember. Those, and more.

-You here, you racist?-

Out of all rangers, she had to stumble over that one. That was some bad luck.

-Ohhh. In fact,- the boy cleared his throat, his voice became sharp. -What's uncivilised scum like you doing here?-

-You don't even know who I am. You can't see me.-

-Don't need to.-

The prowler didn't take him seriously. She walked away as if nothing had happened, but soon she fell face-down into the mud: out of nowhere, the swampy waters had stirred and a small wave had submerged her.

Seventeen listened with pleasure to the various insults the woman covered him with, but he was not satisfied: really wanting to enjoy the her face, he took off the blindfold and in a leap he was a few centimetres from her. He stole her jacket and sweater, loaded with rotten water, and she watched him tear them into long regular-shaped strips, mummy bandages, at impossible speed.

Yeah, that ranger could fly, what was there to argue?

Seventeen figured why that delinquent was there.

-You and your shit company have to stop,- he asserted absently, intent on tying the various strips together.

-Or else?- she challenged him.

-Or else, I'll hunt you down.-

-You won't find me.-

-I will always find you.-

This time, she believed him. She knew innately that he must have memorised her scent and the timbre of her voice, her step as she walked.

And knowing to be at the mercy of someone like that _Seven-something _guy, she couldn't rebel: she let herself be passively enveloped in a kind of chrysalis made of her own clothes. She began to complain when she was carried up to a tree and tied upside down.

-This is mistreatment! It's _unethical_!-

-So is what you do ethical? Don't make me laugh,- the ranger snorted.

The criminal answered with a bark, blood rose to her head and a vein swelled on her forehead.

-Are you seriously not afraid of legal consequences, stupid brat?-

-Me? Nah…-

Meanwhile Églantine panted, and pushed aside the cattails, dismayed to see the top ranger pacing around someone tied up, vulture-like.

-Didn't you want water?-

Seventeen reached into the woman's bag and threw a full water bottle to his colleague. He gave her a summary of the _Solway Solvents_ situation and once prevented Églantine found herself appreciating his devilish smile.

The woman, hanging like a sausage in the heat of June, was starting to feel faint, -Give me water!-

-You sure?-

Seeing how he had tied her up, if she had to go to she would have peed her _top_, not her_ pants_. -Be careful what you want.-

Églantine found Seventeen to be right, but she wasn't convinced that leaving that person hanging like that was legal.

-Untie her, before she dies.-

-Oh, no. I'd need a pail to hook to her chin, so if she_...-_

Églantine, who was fifty-one, was a little disturbed.

-You're terrible! Just untie her.-

/

Back at the Crozier cowshed, the morning proceeded slowly.

_"Damn grey fleece. All the other breeds calve in the cold, but not them. "_

Carly examined the two cows: the one that was still spinning bellowed faintly, the other had the calf practically already her hind legs. An intern took care of the first while Carly bent over the most imminent birth: she crouched in the suffocating straw and with one gloved hand helped the first calf to be born, repositioning it in the mother's womb.

Leni had come to keep her company,

-They shouldn't have called you. And you should have declined, you're not paid for this.-

-That's okay.-

The manager smiled with her as Carly pulled out the calf, soft, tender.

-You make it look easy. Is it easy?-

-No.-

Lately Carly didn't know what turn she wanted to make in her career.

Her veterinary job was very on the field, rewarding, but she liked studying too much: being in contact with zoologists had inspired her, the thought of dissecting cadavers didn't faze her.

Carly placed the calf close to its mother's udders and thought she would like to continue studying, perhaps getting a PhD. In any case, she had _more urgent projects_ to attend to and would have to put that idea aside for a few years. She got ready to extract the second calf which was born quickly, with a powerful push.

Leni cheered, -You did it! GG, Carly.-

-Well, that was a bloody miracle.-

The twin birth that had so worried the Croziers and even the vets had been relatively smooth.

The student gave the new mother an affectionate pat. The cow stood up, releasing a warm, dark splash on Carly's white gown.

Leni pinched her nose and stifled a laugh, but was amazed at how calm her friend could be at that sight of guts, blood and excrement.

-...? Poop?-

Incredulous and horrified, Carly looked down at her gross lab coat.

She let the second calf start suckling, then quickly changed and looked at the dirty white gown on the ground; she sat against one wall of the cowshed, dry-heaving.

-Oh no…- her face twisted in disgust, she warned that she was going to be sick.

-Hold it!-

Leni struggled to find any empty bucket but didn't have time; Carly threw up those few sips of water that she had gulped down before reaching the mountain pasture; she stood for a minute with her head back and her eyes closed, panting with the effort, and then went on again; Leni held her long ponytail, of such a light orange it looked almost blond; she had focused on Carly's hair to give her some privacy.

-What a sight. I'm sorry, Leni.-

-You kept you cool even for too long; after a cow shits you, this is really the minimum.-

Louisa had also rushed in, -Oh, oh, poor thing! How pale you are...Do you need anything?-

Carly asked for Coke. Louisa ran to Mrs. Crozier's shop and returned with a bottle of orange soda (she thought it was equally useful).

A bloody-gloved intern approached, -You all right , Der Veer? Can you help me with Carina?-

Like a boxer ready to face a new round, Carly rinsed her mouth and returned to the ring; she looked at Leni out of the corner of her eye, changing her gloves and kneeling behind the other cow still in labour. She sent the intern to attend to a matter and took the HR director aside.

She had to do what needed to be done.

-Listen, Leni. I need to communicate to you a decision regarding my contract with the RNP and my career. Sooner or later I'll tell Louisa too.-

-Don't tell me you don't want to work with us anymore! -

Leni watched with apprehension Carly attending Carina while still struggling with malaise.

-You have to rectify my contract. Since my due date falls at the end of November, I won't start in January.-

-Which _due date_?-

The director was shocked, knowing in her heart that the semantics left no doubt, yet she made an effort to remain calm, -Are you pregnant?-

Carly nodded, still focused on Carina, -The doctor says he'll come out on the 30th; in practice, when he wants.-

_"Or she... "_

Leni could not help but notice that under the new clean white gown, Carly wore her shorts unbuttoned, to make room for a belly that was just beginning to round out.

A cold sweat lined Leni's forehead, in spite of the heat of the cowshed.

She grabbed her friend eagerly, -My god, my little Carly! How is it like, how are you feeling?-

-Not so great today.-

Carly had realised she got pregnant that afternoon in early March, the day of Lapis's birthday party; she had remembered she had been skipping periods only on the clover field day.

When she had had her gynaecological examination she was already ten weeks, two and a half months: she had already gone through a quarter of her pregnancy totally ignoring it.

Both she and the creature were fine, but Carly still worried about all her _sushi nights_.

She had felt disoriented and almost shocked by happiness. During all that time it hadn't been _Carly_, but _Carly and her baby_. Everything had changed.

She was stunned at how she could have overlooked it. In hindsight, it justified her sleepiness and salt cravings.

According to the Internet pregnancy was almost divine punishment, so Carly was surprised to see the weeks go by without her turning into some kind of invalid. But she thought it was always around the corner.

Leni thought back to a moment before, -Do you have any morning sickness?-

-I do today.-

Ever since Carly found out, she had expected to give up her normal diet, but she usually had no problem with what she ate.

She had expected to swell, but instead she had lost 3 kg. She had prepared herself to feel perpetually uncomfortable and to vomit more than twenty times a day as had happened to Lazuli, but she had learned from the doctor that poor Lazuli was only the other end of the spectrum.

Carly counted on the fingers of one hand the times it had happened to her, it was more likely when she smelled Lillian's gasoline or detergents. She might have heartburn, but it was mild and bearable.

Carly was in good health: it was as if that creature wanted to be there as quietly as possible, without making its mother suffer.

That morning had been a case in itself: what bad timing with the dirty gown, it had made Carly throw up at work. It was the most stereotypical thing she could do in her condition.

-What month are you?-

-Almost eleven weeks. The third month is about to end.-

Carly cleaned up the calf she had just extracted; she reached for a glass, but favoured the bottle of orange soda directly.

Out of nowhere Louisa broke into the conversation, making Carly's heart jump.

-Congratulations, Der Veer! Why didn't you tell me right away, now I regret calling you. The baby is the top ranger's, isn't it?-

-No, the of Holy Ghost,- Carly chuckled.

-Please, Louisa, don't shout it from the rooftops. Don't tell John either,- Leni ordered, sensing Carly's thoughts.

-I told you to be careful at Seventeen!- Leni stuttered, -blue eyes, long black hair, thug attitude...voilà, pregnant.-

Carly was not naive, she didn't appreciate being treated as such; she sighed, masking her annoyance with a half smile.

-Actually, you said he was exactly my type; and why are you accusing him? He's been my boyfriend for a long time and we both wanted a baby, we just didn't expect it so soon.-

-Your boyfriend for a long time?-

-Yeah. High school sweetheart.-

They had told anyone who had asked that they had taken a break; Carly had also told Leni that she was convinced that Lapis was dead. It all didn't add up, but Leni had stopped thinking about it.

Carly couldn't wait to tell her Lapis; she herself had found out late and had decided to wait the end of the infamous third month.

That was in fact the most delicate time, she wanted to avoid to tell Lapis something that would make him immensely happy, only to suffer a miscarriage. It was something that could happen to any woman.

-Moral of the story, Leni: this is what happens when you forget the pill twice in a row.-

During the weeks leading up to the four-leaf clovers Carly had continued taking the pill, still unaware that the one time she forgot it, combined with not taking it the next day because she was still drunk, was enough.

She patted her belly, which looked huge to Leni all of a sudden.

It had happened that Leni forgot the pill; she was amazed to see that her younger friend was so fertile.

Returning to Verny for some well-deserved rest, Carly thought about the reasons for her choice: she didn't want Lapis to be happy and hopeful for nothing. She knew what that baby meant to him, she could imagine it.

Maybe she was wrong to do so, Lillian had told her too; she wasn't having much faith in Lapis, assuming he couldn't handle any loss.

But it was still for a good purpose.

/

Thoughts of the author:

We recall a peremptory statement by Carly to Lillian, from chapter 17, _"I don't shag rangers."_

While writing that, in my mind I said "huahahah you'll see": now there is no denying that an exception has been made (and with nothing less than the _top_ ranger.)

Églantine is right about Seventeen being a kid, but now he must grow. Now or never.

However let's acknowledge that he's improving on a human level, with his colleagues. If Églantine had asked him to join him two years earlier, he would have told her to f**k off...

Thank you, readers, for making it this far. This part is super important for me, giving my interpretation of 17's family. It's starting here, with his firstborn.


	37. It was a bad Idea, indeed

The RNP was saved again when, inexplicably, one of the executives of Solway Solvents submitted her resignation and confessed her attempted crimes to the police.

But once one threat was removed, another immediately took over; a long and intense summer was on the horizon, the unexpected heat melting the surface of the Great Eden faster than usual. Like winter avalanches, torrent floods were an ever-present risk and the Dorée soon overflowed from its banks, sweeping away all the agricultural/forestry work that the village of Épinel had carried out in recent years on those acres. Cattle had been killed, the levees and walls had completely crumbled, the pastures and newly planted wood became one deep puddle.

Elliott said it as a joke, secretly believing there was a grain of truth. -Did you want to come here to spy on how we handle things, then reveal it to the commander?-

Defiance was just curious, -Look, my boss is my mother, not Malina.-

-Her Highness Erica _Long_?- Elliott smiled.

-Rikki.-

-But I, poor plebeian, can't call her with a nickname!-

-That's her name; it has been for twenty-three years, legally.-

The MIR chief muddied herself, walking close to a barn.

-What a disaster. Do something, for Christ's sake, this will take months…-

Defiance saw the situation from a technical point of view, on Monster Island that aftermath only would be a code orange: yet no one on the site of the flood was in a hurry, park rangers or civilians, as if they were waiting for the intervention of divine Providence!

Elliott himself did not appear disturbed.

Maybe Northern people were used to it and knew how to take it serendipitously, without making a scene. Eventually, what could a girl from South City understand.

-But what months,- tubby boy sanctioned. -Just wait for Seventeen to fix everything.-

-17 miracles?-

-No, with a capital S, our top ranger; he's like you on steroids, we call him _the terminator_.-

How strange that Rikki had no intel about any other _equivalent_ of her daughter, besides Lillian Dahl.

-Dang he's even got the model number.-

Defiance thought again that Northerners were generally weird; she had thought that Malina's baby girl, Nastya, had a weird name...

-That's why,- Elliott laughed. -But never say that in front of him.-

/

Carly was still looking for a way to _tell_ Lapis, he would be home any moment. In her heart the fear was starting to take, like she was going to prison for life.

But perhaps Lapis would put aside the disappointment of not having learnt the news immediately, in favour of the news itself.

Carly mused, vacuuming the hallway.

She felt a gentle draught of air seep from the stairwell, even though the bedrooms' windows were closed.

Carly checked room by room, fearing she would see curtains flutter, reflections in the mirror, or hear ominous noises.

It must have been just a draught.

_"I'm really crazy ..."_

Carly laughed at herself; she couldn't turn the corner, that she felt someone grab her from behind and lift her.

-Let go of me! Help!-

She screamed at the top of her lungs, kicked, punched, exhausting herself in a struggle as desperate as it was fruitless.

Whoever was attacking her couldn't have chosen a more wrong victim...

-Carly, come on, stop!-

The young woman heard laughing; she stopped shouting and hitting only when she found herself, almost without realising, with her face against the aggressor's pectorals; the jewel-blue of his gaze stared at her shocked face with an affectionate expression.

Carly broke down in tears, -Lapis ?! Are you nuts?-

She gave him a slap on the arm, instinctively holding a hand to her belly.

Her sobs were overwhelming, -Don't do it again, don't do it again.-

_Emotions in caps lock_: Carly wanted to stay serious, but Seventeen was moved to see her. As proud as her academic or shooting range skills made him feel, he couldn't resist the charm of his truly sweet woman. He took her back, kissing her forehead, her wet cheeks, and finally her mouth; her lips too were wet with tears.

Seventeen felt her surrender to him, grabbed her hips and lifted her, just for the pleasure of being tickled by her long red braid.

And Carly had never resisted the details on Lapis's face, even the "out of place" ones: the fluttering locks, the adorable snag fangs.

-Be careful, dear, don't squeeze me tight…-

Her voice came out sweet, full of love.

It undid Seventeen: he really wanted her. To _feel _her, even before having her.

-Don't squeeze me too tight…- Carly tried again, briefly touching the spot where she had tied her sweatpants.

-Did I hurt you?-

Carly seemed to light up with the new words she wanted to say. -No,…-

She couldn't say anything else, Lapis's cell phone rang.

-Ahhh...work,- Seventeen pitied whoever was calling him.

Carly followed his every move with anxiety.

"Not now, forget it. It's already gone out and back in. All right, at 5am."

The Dorée had come out of its levees and the flood site had to be cleaned up, nothing Seventeen couldn't do at dawn.

-Who they take me for, I don't know. Now I want to be here with you.-

Seventeen forgot that Carly had started a conversation that the call had interrupted.

And Carly, such was the carefree joy of the moment, she postponed; she wanted to enjoy Lapis in all his panache, before tackling serious topics.

Wonderful, but serious.

/

Elliott was always at the Saint-Paul flat with his MIR, Brent had been kindly thrown out.

Lillian hadn't been able to stop herself from _telling_ Brent once they were in bed together.

-Are you joking, our Carly? Double-D's Carly?-

Brent's appellations were so cryptic...if anything it was _double G's Carly_.

Brent was the one who had come up with _the_ _terminator_, -Fuck Lilli, can you imagine Sev's sperms? Instead of swimming they have a jet pack.-

They both burst out laughing.

Brent didn't know what he was saying; Lillian was always the only one aware of Seventeen's hybrid physiology, but she thought in that respect he didn't differ from any other healthy young man.

Brent couldn't help himself and had to text Elliott.

-Oh wow. He kind of knocked her up with his gaze.-

Listening casually to Elliott's recorded vocal note, Defiance nearly choked on her spaghetti in broth; she had almost understood he was talking about them.

_"God save me."_

-Oh, oh Def, hear me out! The best friend of Brent's girlfriend got pregnant, bythe terminator guy.-

-Sperminator,- she corrected him, rolling spaghetti on her fork.

Elliott howled with laughter.

_"Hold her tight and never let her go, she's unique."_ He told himself.

Defiance had the same sense of humour as he and Brent.

She was the whole package.

/

Seventeen had only been away a week, but he had missed home; perhaps he was getting old, he had grown fond of four walls.

-It's not the house itself, but what it represents,- Carly explained, patting his back. -Will you come and help me with dinner?-

Seventeen calmly dressed; meanwhile, he noticed that the usual blister of pink tablets was missing from Carly's bedside table. -Didn't you take the pill, Carly?-

Caught off guard she felt struck by lightning, on the threshold of the bedroom.

-...I stopped, Lapis.-

Dismay overcame Seventeen, -You know you didn't tell me to come outside, don't you?-

Carly took a deep breath and sat back on the bed. She was past the third month, the time had come.

-It's ok now. I'm expecting anyway.-

Lapis's expression convinced Carly to lift the sweatshirt she had never taken off with a shaking hand, and dispel the "How?", "When?", "It's not possible!"

For a split second Seventeen felt a killing pain in his chest, -How long?-

It hadn't taken him long to give her a child: in fact, it had happened as soon as Carly's body had given him the chance.

When Seventeen saw Carly's belly, unmistakably round, his heart stopped.

It was something that concerned him in the most intimate way he could imagine.

-And you didn't tell _me_?-

-I found out late too! Two weeks ago, I can explain,-

-Yeah, you took me for a fool.-

Carly could only see a sliver of his jewelled eyes, behind his eyelids.

She sought a connection with that low stare, -I couldn't tell you! What if I lost the baby?-

-Would you pretend nothing happened?- roared Seventeen, leaping to his feet, making Carly jump.

If that had happened, would the matter have died in silence, as if it had never been?

For the first time since they had reunited, Carly felt fear. The eyes of her beloved, which she normally found so irresistible, were now eerie.

At that moment, if she hadn't already been, Carly was certain that Seventeen wasn't totally human. It was easy to forget, in everyday life she never found herself thinking "Now I'm walking around with my cyborg boyfriend", "I live with my cyborg".

Love made her forget what Lapis was in his entirety, and that was how it should be.

But now his pale and very, very cold eyes had little of human.

-Lapis…-

The future mother held that glare, without crying: she told him with simplicity and sincerity that she was desolate.

That she had tried not to expose him to hypothetical heartbreak.

Seventeen had always been honest, even if it cost him pain. It had not been easy to talk to Carly about the whole cyborg thing, but he had done it for himself and _for them_.

In his indignation, Seventeen noticed how his change of mood had scared Carly.

For the past two years he had tucked away the "killing machine" side he always knew was hiding somewhere (he wasn't so naive as to think he got rid of it).

Carly had helped: she had always had that power, to make him feel at peace with himself. To her Seventeen owed the serenity he had managed to reintroduce into his broken and mended life.

-Haha. No.-

Seventeen held Carly an arm from him. He disappeared from her sight without her noticing, only the sound of the slamming door of another room indicated that he had barricaded himself there.

-Lapis?-

Carly knocked repeatedly on that door, -Please! Please…-

Getting no response, Carly gave a kick for the relief.

All the other times she'd wanted to rage at him, when he was still a gangster and got into trouble, when he'd withdrawn into himself and treated her coldly, she hadn't; but now, pushed to the limit, Carly felt explosive anger within her.

It was certainly not how she had pictured that moment. Her patience was a very deep well, perpetually drawing from that boundless love she felt for Lapis.

But there was a limit to everything.

Puzzled about her own feelings, Carly walked out of the chalet when it was already getting dark outside. She hurried to downtown Verny, and when she felt secluded enough she called Leni. If she was looking for a person who certainly wouldn't defend Seventeen, it was her.

_"Hey baby girl. In the end, Lillian and I give you veto power over what to eat instead of sushi on Sundays."_

"Leni ..."

There wasn't much to understand, _"I'm gonna choke him."_

Carly was beginning to feel the tingling of tears: she didn't want to cave, she wasn't a crybaby anymore, she was a mother; even though the baby was unborn, she considered herself a fully-fledged mother, "I was sure he wanted the baby. He was always the one who thought about it the most..."

Cursing the distance, Leni spoke softly to her:

_" Okay, Carly, let me be honest. Seventeen can be a great... but you kept the truth from him, he's pissed at the very least. "_

"Are you justifying him?"

_"No, I'm gonna choke him. But you should have put your fears aside to take a leap of faith. If you don't trust him, why are you two together?"_

"It was my body I didn't trust."

_"It's understandable. But don't assume Seventeen doesn't want the baby just because you've bombarded him with news like that, only now."_

Leni told her that as much as she believed in her good intentions, Carly had made a mistake.

_"Carly? You still there?"_ Leni gave her the only advice she found relevant. _"No use crying over spilt milk. Let him assimilate this emotional mound, when he's done understanding how he feels he will come to you. Have a little faith in him. I could do it, imagine you."_

Carly had another panic attack: all Leni could do was listen to her cry helplessly, waiting for her to calm down.

_"The office is about to close. Come over to my house, we watch a stupid movie and order dinner like the old days, you and me. Will you?"_

Carly was feeling very weak and a little nauseous, she was so nervous that she wasn't even hungry.

However, she knew by now that it was certainly not the time to skip meals.

"Yes, sure. See you soon."

/

When Seventeen became aware of his wrath, he sought isolation. And as he was leaning against the closed door that his Carly hammered with kicks, he wanted to let a part of him enjoy that dream come true.

With that kind of truth he could no longer feel dehumanized, it was the _ultimate_ victory against Gero.

And thinking about it, Seventeen rejoiced.

Therefore, not even he himself could understand the will to be angry and brew in that anger. Surely Carly was suffering from it.

Why had she kept it from him, Carly?

The fact that she had made him fall from the sky had put him on the path of dark meaningless thoughts: perhaps Carly didn't say anything to him because, unconsciously, she knew that _he was not a normal man_, in spite of blood running through his veins and semen taking.

#17 was a _terminator _who happened to put a baby in a human woman.

#17 could not be a good companion, a good father; he was dangerous, he could kill without even trying.

Yet Carly had stayed: he had never told her how good it had felt that she had stayed.

Unconditional love.

Perhaps he should talk to Eighteen, but he held back. Apart from her impending wedding, he could not always depend on Eighteen, like a dummy not even capable of taking his own responsibilities. His sister would have laughed at him, at how immature and weak he was.

Pencil approached, a look from her master commanded that she turn around and so she did. But she stood staring at him, discontented and contemptuous, as if she wanted the last word.

Seventeen hooked up his cell phone to the stereo, letting Systems Of A Down play. They fit his shitty mood: his account on that site, containing a playlist named just like that, knew a lot more about his way of handling anger than the people around him.

Seventeen threw himself into a wild headbang, to the beat of the song _Toxicity_.

A hasty and energetic knocking on the front door interrupted the fun.

-What do you want?- he grunted at whoever stood on the other side of the threshold.

It was a young woman, short hair dyed black and boyish allure.

-Um, I'm from the house at the back...everything okay?-

-Yes I'm fine.-

_Lie_.

Seventeen found the ways of the Centre convenient: asking "How are you?" among strangers was a formality answered with "Fine, thank you."

Nobody really cared about other people's lives, and thank goodness.

The young woman smiled uncomfortably, -Are you sure? Anyway, can you not blare your music like we were at the North City Open Air? Which I love, but I'm trying to get my son to sleep. And to watch Netflix.-

She held out a hand, -Iris, anyway.-

Seventeen clicked his tongue, in a derisory way, -...Scots pine?-

Instead of shaking her hand he brushed back his hair, staying away from her.

The young woman remained patient with the boy with the foreign accent.

-... that's my name! Iris Cheney. Well, take care.-

When the neighbour got out of his hair, Seventeen went back to the bedroom to listen to the music.

_"Coming out of my cage and I was doing just fine..." _he hummed in unison with the first line of a song.

Carly had left the chalet; Seventeen was left with the bed wide open, the scent of her skin and hair on the pillow that he held in his hands. He dipped his nose into it to calm down.

He wondered where she was, Carly. She had run away from him.

Seventeen sat up, _"... 'cause I'm Mr. Brightside!"_

He chewed the lyrics of the song with an ironic grin, finding them the apotheosis of hypocrisy.

He flung the alarm clock at the stereo and cell phone, the whole thing fragmented before it got to make a hole in the wall.

Silence fell.

Perhaps now Iris Cheney could have done as she pleased.

/

At 3am Seventeen felt drained enough to attempt a short nap, if only to take a symbolic break from his life.

But sleep didn't give him the comfort he sought, his mind created eerie images of a ferocious separation between Carly and him; and of Carly who, within a week of giving birth, aborted his child just to spite him.

He awoke in the salty sea of his own sweat, shivering, breathless. Pencil had disappeared, the house was still deserted. Why didn't Carly come home?

He waited restlessly until almost dawn.

And then he got ready for his shift.

/

At 5 it was cold enough to wear the blue parka. The three musketeers, summoned by John to fix the Dorée flood site, walked along a ridge: Lillian and Brent confabulated, hand in hand, while Seventeen was barely there. The only signs of life his colleagues could perceive were the inertia gait and the condensation of his breath misting his sunglasses.

-Hey bro, how are you doing?- Brent attempted.

Lillian hurried down the path to keep up, -My phone...I can't lock the screen. Will you fix my phone?-

-Who, me?-

What made Lillian think that he knew anything about electronics? Wasn't she thinking...

Seventeen stamped his feet and took off his glasses, -No…-

-Yeah…-

-No.-

Lillian struggled to ease his spirits, -Sometimes I imagine you can sync. Like, mind commands.-

Seventeen didn't consider her in the least, and Lillian felt like going back to the early days when he ignored her, except when making fun of her.

She tried to leave him alone, he must have something else on his mind.

And she also knew what.

/

For Elliott and Defiance, it was almost time to separate. But before the great farewells, on her way to the North City airport Defiance had herself dropped off at the police station: there was one more matter she wanted to resolve before heading back South.

-Do you have a licence plate, Miss?-

Defiance handed the paper to the gendarme, -What will you do now? Will you look for a match in the database?-

-We'll try, if nothing else.-

The policeman wondered whether to smile in compassion at such a strong sense of justice, or to admire it.

-You're lucky Miss,- declared the gendarme, after a quick search of the database. -The plate is not _ours,_ but the owner of the vehicle lives in the North.-

Defiance reached for the monitor: the photo and data of a woman, in the electronic file, were not what she had expected.

-Officer, this is a stolen car!-

The policeman waited to call directly the person to whom the car was registered.

-The day of the infraction I saw the culprit, it wasn't this girl. I'm sure.-

As if that complaint were a Cluedo match, the cop decided to play with zeal, -Describe this culprit to me. Age?-

-About twenty.-

-Ethnicity?-

-What should I answer?-

-Height?-

-Like me.-

-Any distinguishing marks?-

Defiance still remembered every feature of the _chav _'s face: including eyes piercing like she had never seen in person, but perhaps only on certain family photos that were prehistoric to her, and that Rikki jealously guarded.

/

The Dorée had flooded acres and acres of fields and forest. The rangers soon got to work.

-Can you count these slabs of gneiss for me, Sev? We have to redo the embankment.-

Brent stared at him, laughing under his breath.

Seventeen gave the surroundings a flat look that resembled those bluish stone slabs.

-52, so what?-

-No, count them.-

Seventeen was growing annoyed, -4,8, 12…-

-No! One by one.-

Seventeen narrowed his eyes in an affected smile; he began to stack the gneiss slabs on his hand and disappeared.

The Viking felt compelled to justify himself to Lillian, -I was curious to hear how Sev counts!-

-How do you want him to count?-

-Like '15, 16, me'.-

The Viking kept in mind the slabs Sev had taken and counted the ones he had left.

It really was 52.

/

Later, Brent had to run and tell the story of some ruins to a group of tourists and Lillian got a call. She put the speaker on and Seventeen had to hear it all while working on the embankment.

"No, Commander, I will not abandon my ship and your first mate does not want to abandon yours; Elliott is another compartment in her life.-

Seventeen couldn't care less, but he couldn't help overhearing.

-What does a Southerner want from you, Lill?-

-Do you remember the book _Sailing For Beginners_?-

-Yup.-

-She wrote it. You were reading it on Halloween.-

Seventeen chuckled, -Do you remember what I was reading on Halloween?-

-Mm mm.- Lillian nodded, unsure if it was something positive or not.

-What else do you remember?-

-Everything.-

Lillian suffered with the aggressive flashback of Seventeen and his hair falling past his collar and his hands on the dimples on her back; she experienced again their second kiss, the taste of strawberry vodka in his mouth, or in her own; she saw herself again on the roof of her jeep, Seventeen's lovely dark brows against her cheek.

A long, long time ago.

The worst thing was the _lack of choice_ in the face of memories: one could not always choose what to keep and what to forget. And Lillian felt guilty for remembering.

-Anyway, if I went to Monster Island I'd get more money. But I'll stay here.-

-Do you want to join those _MRI_ guys?-

-MIR!- Lillian laughed. -No, I'm staying. But how did you know I was talking to a Southerner?-

Seventeen just wanted to be alone but since the work had to be done, he knew that chatting with Lillian would distract him.

He was grateful that Lillian was there, even if he would never tell her.

He gave her a sly smile, -She had that accent. Like my mother.-

-Come on, are you from the South City area?-

As if Lillian didn't know he was born and raised a stone's throw from Central City!

-Not _me._ My mother. I believe my father too.-

He believed…

Spontaneously, Lillian felt sad for him, but it was not the time to add defector fathers to the mix.

While the rangers kept on drywalling, Seventeen struggling to work in synergy with Lillian at her snail pace (instead of getting rid of her and avoiding spending the whole day on a stupid embankment), a family of four passed by and waved hello.

-Have a good afternoon!- Lillian trilled, glancing at her taciturn colleague and speaking to herself, -And don't mind him, he's crabby, he must be on his period. Unlike his girlfriend.-

Lillian was still standing on the edge of the ridge when Seventeen materialized behind her; she sensed what would soon happen and he stared at the _lout_ with an incredulous and indignant look, -Fu- -

And then, with a flick of Seventeen's wrist she flew off the ridge, down to a calm and deep spot of the icy Dorée.

/

Dripping water, Lillian ran to her car to get a blanket to wrap herself in. The blanket didn't warm her and Lillian went down to North City for a cup of hot coffee. Walking down a street, she saw Bronwyn crying outside her home.

Someone else was having a shitty day...

Bronwyn refused to make conversation and continued to sob, but left her cell phone in plain sight.

_Ok, but next time you show up in my grandma's nude underwear I'll send you back._

There was no need for Lillian to guess the sender.

-Bronwyn. You don't have to take this.-

-Now he will change me for some other girl!-

It was not the first time that Joel had something to say about her: lately he criticized her for the fragrance of her bubble bath, the colour of her underwear, her height!

-Why don't you just dump him? That piece of shit. You know very well what he wants from you.-

-'Just dump him'? Then I'd be alone…-

-Better being alone than suffering from the disaffection of an idiot.-

-But I want him,- Bronwyn sniffed.

Though she didn't like it when, in front of everyone, Joel called her "little bimbo."

-Everyone has someone. You've got the Viking now, even Gontier fatso with that snotty lumberjack of his…-

There was no one among their acquaintances with whom Bronwyn had not been poisonous: Lillian remembered about Bronwyn bashing her, she had called her a whore in front of a room full of people.

In the end, Bronwyn was just someone insecure who couldn't be alone.

-I'm just the occasional pretty girl, that's all.-

Bronwyn considered herself a little bimbo. Her parents had told her too, so had other boys.

-Who called you a bimbo, beside Joel?-

-They don't need to say it.-

Her ex had sent her on a shopping spree whenever she had wanted to seriously talk to him; a colleague she'd been texting with for a while had stood her up on a first date.

-And even that Centrie jackass with the earrings, when I went out with him that time, he didn't care shit for me.-

Lillian laughed internally with satisfaction as she remembered the time Bronwyn had tried to use her, and had been well rewarded, -Yes, but you really know how to pick 'em, what do you expect?-

It was not easy to get out of a relationship, the type mattered little; it had taken Lillian some time to "detox" from that same bastard, Joel.

-Leave him alone, don't cry and don't sigh for crumbs. It's all Joel can give and you are a woman, not an ant.-

When Lillian had understood and felt it too, it had been a liberation.

Bronwyn now dared to tell her to mind her business and that Lillian was envious that she was sleeping with Joel.

Seriously? Lillian's day kept getting better and better...

-But why do I even bother being the do-goodamn-gooder?- she shouted, still frozen. -I'm always the one in the middle, I always have to fix everything, console everyone, listen to everyone's problems and what do I get ? Who listens to me? I've had enough of this!-

With that rant aimed at life itself more than at Bronwyn, Lillian went on down the street leaving behind a trail of droplets.

What a fool she had been, Bronwyn thought of herself, to go and open up with that smug-ass Lillian.

Really, what a hellcat that one was.

/

Since they had fought, that afternoon in the bedroom, she had politely but unfailingly kept her distance.

At night in bed she had her back to him, she stayed in her corner on her cell phone, in silence.

-Good night, love…-

-Good night.-

Krillin never wanted to grieve her. Yet with that second child matter he had made her close up in such a hard shell that now, _his wife Eighteen_ felt more unapproachable than the cyborg of three years ago.

Eighteen was not angry, but disappointed: she had grown accustomed to being understood by Krillin almost effortlessly.

Krillin was empathetic, sensitive, emotional, much more than her; a type of man the world considered rare.

He had witnessed her pregnancy, he had been by her side day and night, at home, in the Briefs lab while they sewed her up, in the Central City clinic. Krillin had known her torments, he had almost lived them with her. And he had the nerve to demand another child from her, to insist!

-Many fathers consider a second child. It's not a crime, you are treating me unfairly,- he said.

-How can you be so selfish? I won't give you such a high-priced consolation.-

They had almost toxic discussions, full of thoughts that they did not feel as_ theirs,_but which they defended.

Eighteen had been disappointed by Krillin's insistence, by his unusual lack of perception.

All this, combined with the words that tormented her from the back of her mind, was putting Eighteen's patience and serenity to the test.

-You stand here stamping your feet, like Marron does,- she almost hissed, then pointing to the window. -The androids are out there!-

Since she had called herself _Super 18,_ Eighteen had never expressed concern about any name on Dende's list. However, what 19.2 had told her had stuck with her.

Eighteen had noticed when, even with Hacchan, she hadn't wanted to talk about it.

And when Krillin asked her for an explanation, Eighteen repeated the exact words of the nineteenth creation:

_"May Kami save you and whoever is like you."_

Krillin thought about it, -Of course it's about us human earthlings. Those androids consider you a pure human.-

Eighteen thought back to when she had defeated #15 in Saffron Town._ "You are nothing more than a human," _he had told her, connoting the phrase of inferiority.

19.2 had simply alluded to the mission Dende had given her, Hacchan and Sixteen: to protect humanity from the rise of the Red Ribbon machines.

-If I were you, I wouldn't lose sleep thinking about 19.2.-

-I don't know, Krillin. That's the point.-

Besides the fact that 19.2 had survived her attack, Eighteen had had an unfathomable feeling that there was _more_ to those words.

Between that and the whole story of the children, Eighteen needed comfort. She also had to do something that she had imposed on herself but forgot about.

And she did it with a heavy heart, knowing that the real reason wasn't the necessity to inform, but a need for comfort that she could no longer ignore.

/

Thoughts of the author:

Two words: team Defiance.

No. So AWKWARD!

Surely the pregnancy announcement was much more serene and romantic with Eighteen and Krillin!

In my interpretation, Seventeen has never been particularly careful not to make the people he loves suffer. I always try to stay IC: I think all of this suits the _bad_ _boy_ of Z, and here he's still at that stage of his life.

Passing on to Eighteen, what do you think 19's words really mean?

PS.

I think I also need a _shitty mood_ Spotify playlist.


End file.
